Archive for English Premiership
Black Cats stun Man City
The Black Cats scored from a penalty in the dying moments of the match to inflict Man City to its first defeat of the season.
There was also another surprise loss in the round with Tottenham Hotspurs losing 1-nil to Wigan at White Hart Lane.
Wigan had shipped ten goals in its first two fixtures but managed to keep a clean sheet against Spurs to record first win and first points.
Liverpool also recorded its first win of the season after overcoming West Bromwich Albion 1-nil at Anfield.
No 6-nil in round 3 and the highest winning margin came from Old Trafford where Manchester United beat winless West Ham United 3-nil.
delicious
digg
6-nil : Its the order of the season
This is like 20% of the matches have finished with such a high number of goals.
Defending champions Chelsea have won their first two matches 6-nil and they have been joined by Arsenal and Newcastle who won their round 2 matches by the same scoreline.
Here is a list of all the scorelines in the Premier League so far:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 2 |
| 0 - 4 | 1 |
| 0 - 6 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 2 |
| 1 - 1 | 2 |
| 1 - 2 | 1 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 1 | 2 |
| 2 - 2 | 2 |
| 3 - 0 | 3 |
| 6 - 0 | 3 |
Interestingly no single match finished 6-nil last season and here is the list of scorelines for the 2009/10 season:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 32 |
| 0 - 1 | 26 |
| 0 - 2 | 16 |
| 0 - 3 | 3 |
| 0 - 4 | 4 |
| 0 - 5 | 2 |
| 1 - 0 | 33 |
| 1 - 1 | 39 |
| 1 - 2 | 19 |
| 1 - 3 | 8 |
| 1 - 4 | 4 |
| 1 - 5 | 1 |
| 1 - 6 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 34 |
| 2 - 1 | 42 |
| 2 - 2 | 21 |
| 2 - 3 | 5 |
| 2 - 4 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 23 |
| 3 - 1 | 16 |
| 3 - 2 | 8 |
| 3 - 3 | 4 |
| 4 - 0 | 10 |
| 4 - 1 | 5 |
| 4 - 2 | 3 |
| 4 - 3 | 2 |
| 5 - 0 | 4 |
| 5 - 1 | 3 |
| 5 - 2 | 2 |
| 5 - 3 | 1 |
| 6 - 1 | 1 |
| 6 - 2 | 1 |
| 7 - 0 | 1 |
| 7 - 1 | 1 |
| 7 - 2 | 1 |
| 8 - 0 | 1 |
| 9 - 1 | 1 |
O'Neill leaves Villa Park
Neill has been at Villa Park from 2006 and at one time during the last two seasons his team has challenged for a Champions League finish.
Last season Villa finished in sixth place and qualified for the Europa Cup where they are drawn to meet Rapid Vienna later this month.
Here is some of the stats for O'Neill's Villa in the 2009/10 season:
| O'Neill's Villa | 2009/10 season |
|---|---|
| Final Position | 6 |
| Played | 38 |
| Points | 64 |
| Won | 17 |
| Drawn | 13 |
| Lost | 8 |
| Goal difference | 13 |
| Clean sheets | 15 |
| Failed to score | 8 |
| Goals scored | 52 |
| Goals conceded | 39 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton |
| Biggest loss | Chelsea 7 - 1 Aston Villa |
| Scored 3 or more | 4 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 3 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 32 |
| Won | 8 |
| Drawn | 8 |
| Lost | 3 |
| Goal difference | 13 |
| Goals scored | 29 |
| Goals conceded | 16 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 32 |
| Won | 9 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 5 |
| Goal difference | 0 |
| Goals scored | 23 |
| Goals conceded | 23 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 |
Blackpool opts for away start
Blackpool's first ever premiership match will now be in the third round when they host Arsenal.
There is work at the moment at Bloomfield Road to boost the capacity of the stadium to 17,600 and its assumed that by the time the Gunners visit that work would have been completed.
Blackpool will now host Wigan on the weekend of April 16, 2011.
Liverpool appoints Hodgson
Hodgson leaves Fulham which he took to the Europa Cup final where his team lost to Atletico Madrid.
The much travelled manager will try to try and arrest the decline at Anfield with the team finishing seventh last season and winning no silverware.
Liverpool had finished second at the end of the 2008/9 season and there were hopes that the team would even try and win the Premiership but the Anfield outfit ended up fighting for a Europa Cup placing.
Hodgson's first premiership match will be against Arsenal at Anfield.
Liverpool, Gunners clash in first round
Liverpool finished seventh last season whilst the Gunners got third place and therefore next season both could be trying to make amends as they also challenge for the title.
Another interesting fixture will see Tottenham Hotspurs host their rivals for fourth place last season Manchester City in round one. In that same fixture last season City lost 3-nil and that was the last match for former manager Mark Hughes.
The promoted sides Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion and Blackpool will face Manchester United, Chelsea and Wigan respectively.
The Premier League season will kickoff on August 14 and round 38 will be played on 22 May, 2011.
TipsChallenge will be running another Premier League tipping competition.
Benitez, Liverpool part company
In the just ended season Liverpool finished seventh in the league and failed to progress to the knockout stage of the Champions League.
This is only the second time during Benitez's time for Liverpool to finish outside the Champions League places.
In the Europa Cup Liverpool were knocked out by Atletico Madrid who went on to win the final against Fulham.
Here is some of the stats for Liverpool for the 2009/10 season:
| Rafa's Liverpool | |
|---|---|
| Position | 7 |
| Played | 38 |
| Points | 63 |
| Won | 18 |
| Drawn | 9 |
| Lost | 11 |
| Goal difference | 26 |
| Clean sheets | 17 |
| Failed to score | 11 |
| Goals scored | 61 |
| Goals conceded | 35 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 |
| Biggest win | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool Portsmouth 2 - 0 Liverpool Liverpool 0 - 2 Chelsea |
| Scored 3 or more | 9 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 2 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 42 |
| Won | 13 |
| Drawn | 3 |
| Lost | 3 |
| Goal difference | 28 |
| Goals scored | 43 |
| Goals conceded | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 21 |
| Won | 5 |
| Drawn | 6 |
| Lost | 8 |
| Goal difference | -2 |
| Goals scored | 18 |
| Goals conceded | 20 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 |
Grant takes over at Upton Park
Grant comes to Upton Park to replace Gianfranco Zola who was sacked at the end of the season after the Hammers finished fourth from bottom.
The Hammers could only amass 35 points and that was enough to keep them in the top flight. Three years ago the Hammers also flirted with relegation and also survived.
For a team that lost so many matches, lets take a look at the Hammers winning/losing trend for the 2009/10 season which Grant will need to reverse:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| West Ham leading at half time, West Ham winning at full time | 7 | 25.9 |
| West Ham leading at half time, West Ham losing at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| West Ham trailing at half time, West Ham winning at full time | 0 | 0.0 |
| West Ham trailing at half time, West Ham losing at full time | 11 | 40.7 |
| West Ham drawing at half time, West Ham winning at full time | 1 | 3.7 |
| West Ham drawing at half time, West Ham losing at full time | 8 | 29.6 |
| Matches ending in result | 27 | 71.1 |
and the Hammers drew 11 matches and this was the trend:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| West Ham drawing at half time, West Ham drawing at full time | 5 | 45.5 |
| West Ham team leading at half time, West Ham drawing at full time | 3 | 27.3 |
| West Ham trailing at half time, West Ham drawing at full time | 3 | 27.3 |
| Drawn matches | 11 | 28.9 |
Its interesting to note that West Ham never lost a match where they were in the lead at half time.
The Hammers led at half time in 10 matches and went on to win 7 of those matches and drew the other three but did not lose.
The downside is that they didn't win any match they fell behind at the break only salvaging three draws in those matches.
Blackpool overcome Cardiff to reach premiership
Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion secured automatic promotion after finishing first and second respectively and Blackpool went through the longer playoff route.
Blackpool finished sixth in the Championship, nine points behind third placed Nottingham Forest and six points behind Cardiff.
But three first half goals was all they needed to secure their place in the top flight.
FA Cup: top vs bottom
Chelsea finished top of the league whilst their rivals with their nine point deduction finished bottom and the two teams face up in the FA Cup final.
Portsmouth would still have finished bottom if the nine deducted points were reinstated and therefore its a true top vs bottom contest.
In the league, Pompey won just seven matches compared with the champions who won 27 matches. Pompey lost 24 of its matches compared to Chelsea who lost six matches.
But this is a Cup game and therefore the league position may be irrelevant and whoever is better on the day will take the Cup home.
So here is a comparison of the two teams league performance over the course of the season:
| Chelsea | Portsmouth | |
|---|---|---|
| Played | 38 | 38 |
| Points | 86 | 19 |
| Drawn | 5 | 7 |
| Won | 27 | 7 |
| Lost | 6 | 24 |
| Goal difference | 71 | -32 |
| Clean sheets | 18 | 7 |
| Failed to score | 1 | 16 |
| Goals scored | 103 | 34 |
| Goals conceded | 32 | 66 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.7 | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | Chelsea 8 - 0 Wigan | Portsmouth 4 - 0 Wigan |
| Biggest loss | Wigan 3 - 1 Chelsea Chelsea 2 - 4 Man City | Man United 5 - 0 Portsmouth Portsmouth 0 - 5 Chelsea |
| Score 3 or more | 15 | 3 |
| Concede 3 or more | 3 | 8 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 19 | 19 |
| Points | 52 | 18 |
| Drawn | 1 | 3 |
| Won | 17 | 5 |
| Lost | 1 | 11 |
| Goal difference | 54 | -8 |
| Goals scored | 68 | 24 |
| Goals conceded | 14 | 32 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.6 | 1.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.7 | 1.7 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 19 | 19 |
| Points | 34 | 10 |
| Drawn | 4 | 4 |
| Won | 10 | 2 |
| Lost | 5 | 13 |
| Goal difference | 17 | -24 |
| Goals scored | 35 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 18 | 34 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 0.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 1.8 |
West Ham sack Zola
The Hammers finished fourth from bottom and flirting with relegation most of the season.
Here is some of the stats for Zola's West Ham in the 2009/10 season:
| Zola's West Ham | |
|---|---|
| Played | 38 |
| Points | 35 |
| Won | 8 |
| Drawn | 11 |
| Lost | 19 |
| Goal difference | -19 |
| Clean sheets | 8 |
| Failed to score | 11 |
| Goals scored | 47 |
| Goals conceded | 66 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | West Ham 3 - 0 Hull |
| Biggest loss | West Ham 0 - 4 Man United |
| Scored 3 or more | 4 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 11 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 26 |
| Won | 7 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 7 |
| Goal difference | 1 |
| Goals scored | 30 |
| Goals conceded | 29 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 9 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 6 |
| Lost | 12 |
| Goal difference | -20 |
| Goals scored | 17 |
| Goals conceded | 37 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 |
Chelsea wins title in style
Chelsea needed a win to win the title and stop second placed Manchester United from claiming their fourth successive title and they made it look so easy.
Also Chelsea set a new record scoring 103 goals from their 38 matches and in the season managed to score seven goals in three matches.
Arsenal beat Europa Cup finalists Fulham to secure third place and avoid the need for Champions League playoffs.
Going into the final round, the relegation places had already been decided but Burnley still managed to beat Tottenham Hotspurs who had already secured fourth place.
Liverpool finished the season with a goalless draw to finish seventh.
Below is the graph showing the goals scored by each for the 2009/10 Premier league season:
Spurs secure Champions League place
The results means Spurs complete a double over City after beating the team 3-nil at White Hart Lane.
City needed at least a draw to stay in the hunt going into the last round fixtures but a loss means that Spurs have opened a four point gap.
Spurs can still get third place if Arsenal slips in its match against Fulham and Spurs win over already relegated Burnley.
So with one match to go here is Spurs season in numbers so far:
| Spur's season so far | |
|---|---|
| Position | 4 |
| Played | 37 |
| Points | 70 |
| Won | 21 |
| Drawn | 7 |
| Lost | 9 |
| Goal difference | 28 |
| Clean sheets | 13 |
| Failed to score | 9 |
| Goals scored | 65 |
| Goals conceded | 37 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Tottenham 9 - 1 Wigan |
| Biggest loss | Chelsea 3 - 0 Tottenham Arsenal 3 - 0 Tottenham |
| Scored 3 or more | 6 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 5 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 44 |
| Won | 14 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 3 |
| Goal difference | 28 |
| Goals scored | 40 |
| Goals conceded | 12 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 18 |
| Points | 26 |
| Won | 7 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 6 |
| Goal difference | 0 |
| Goals scored | 25 |
| Goals conceded | 25 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 |
Fourth place battle: Man City vs Spurs
Both teams collected full points in their round 37 fixtures and now they have a showdown which will guarantee a winner a foothold on fourth place with just one match to go.
A draw will be good for Spurs because it means they stay in front and will control their own destiny.
A draw will need Man City to rely on Spurs drawing their last fixture of the season whilst City wins its own.
Both teams finish the season with away matches with Spurs playing Burnley and Man City away to West Ham.
Spurs can still finish third in the league this season if they win both their last two matches and Arsenal loses its final fixture against Fulham.
In their fixture at White Hart Lane in round 16, Spurs won 3-nil.
So here is some of the stats for the teams so far this season:
| Tottenham | Man City | |
|---|---|---|
| Played | 36 | 36 |
| Points | 67 | 66 |
| Drawn | 7 | 12 |
| Won | 20 | 18 |
| Lost | 9 | 6 |
| Goal difference | 27 | 29 |
| Clean sheets | 12 | 11 |
| Failed to score | 9 | 7 |
| Goals scored | 64 | 72 |
| Goals conceded | 37 | 43 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 2.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| Biggest win | Tottenham 9 - 1 Wigan | Burnley 1 - 6 Man City |
| Biggest loss | Chelsea 3 - 0 Tottenham Arsenal 3 - 0 Tottenham | Tottenham 3 - 0 Man City |
| Score 3 or more | 6 | 13 |
| Concede 3 or more | 5 | 5 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 19 | 18 |
| Points | 44 | 40 |
| Drawn | 2 | 4 |
| Won | 14 | 12 |
| Lost | 3 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 28 | 22 |
| Goals scored | 40 | 41 |
| Goals conceded | 12 | 19 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.1 | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.1 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 17 | 18 |
| Points | 23 | 26 |
| Drawn | 5 | 8 |
| Won | 6 | 6 |
| Lost | 6 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -1 | 7 |
| Goals scored | 24 | 31 |
| Goals conceded | 25 | 24 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 1.3 |
Hull off to Championship
Hull needed to win the match in order to stay with a mathematical chance of surviving going into their last match against Liverpool.
The draw officially ended Hull's two year tenure in the top and will now join Portsmouth and Burnley.
Meanwhile after the last round of the Championship was played over the weekend, Nottingham Forest, Cardiff, Leicester and Blackpool will contest the playoffs to decide the team to join promoted Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion in the premiership.
So here some of stats for Hull season so far with just one match to go:
| Hull's season | |
|---|---|
| Played | 37 |
| Points | 29 |
| Won | 6 |
| Drawn | 11 |
| Lost | 20 |
| Goal difference | -41 |
| Clean sheets | 6 |
| Failed to score | 15 |
| Goals scored | 34 |
| Goals conceded | 75 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 |
| Biggest win | Hull 2 - 0 Fulham |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull |
| Scored 3 or more | 2 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 12 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 18 |
| Points | 23 |
| Won | 6 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 7 |
| Goal difference | -7 |
| Goals scored | 22 |
| Goals conceded | 29 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 19 |
| Points | 6 |
| Won | 0 |
| Drawn | 6 |
| Lost | 13 |
| Goal difference | -34 |
| Goals scored | 12 |
| Goals conceded | 46 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.4 |
Two different agendas: Liverpool vs Chelsea
The two teams needs for different teams and for Chelsea they need to win to remain in contention for the title whilst Liverpool needs a win to stay in the hunt for fourth place on the table.
In the event of Manchester United beating Sunderland, Chelsea needs to win this match to remain in pole position for the title.
Liverpool can only reach a maximum of 68 points and at the moment its still possible for 68 points to achieve fourth place although its very unlikely especially with Manchester City playing Tottenham in midweek.
The Anfield outfit has just been knocked out of the Europa Cup and therefore the two remaining fixtures have become very significant to achieve as high a position as possible.
Chelsea beat Stoke 7-nil in their last league game match and needs seven more goal to reach a century of goals.
In their last league match Liverpool beat Burnley 4-nil to stay in touch with the other teams chasing for fourth place.
In their previous match this season Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-nil.
So both teams need to win to reach their agendas as the season comes to a close and here is some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Chelsea | Liverpool | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 1 | 7 |
| Played | 36 | 36 |
| Points | 80 | 62 |
| Drawn | 5 | 8 |
| Won | 25 | 18 |
| Lost | 6 | 10 |
| Goal difference | 61 | 28 |
| Clean sheets | 16 | 16 |
| Failed to score | 1 | 9 |
| Goals scored | 93 | 61 |
| Goals conceded | 32 | 33 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.6 | 1.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Biggest win | Chelsea 7 - 0 Stoke | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull |
| Biggest loss | Wigan 3 - 1 Chelsea Chelsea 2 - 4 Man City | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool Portsmouth 2 - 0 Liverpool |
| Score 3 or more | 14 | 9 |
| Concede 3 or more | 3 | 2 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 18 | 18 |
| Points | 49 | 42 |
| Drawn | 1 | 3 |
| Won | 16 | 13 |
| Lost | 1 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 46 | 30 |
| Goals scored | 60 | 43 |
| Goals conceded | 14 | 13 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.3 | 2.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 18 | 18 |
| Points | 31 | 20 |
| Drawn | 4 | 5 |
| Won | 9 | 5 |
| Lost | 5 | 8 |
| Goal difference | 15 | -2 |
| Goals scored | 33 | 18 |
| Goals conceded | 18 | 20 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.1 |
Fourth place battle: Man City vs Villa
This is a direct battle between two teams vying for fourth place and winner will get a big boost in securing that place depending also on other results.
City go into this match having failed to score in their previous two matches against a Villa side that has maintained clean sheets in its last two matches.
Their previous match earlier in the season ended in a one all draw and this time a draw may not be a favourable result for either team.
The home team are currently a point behind their visitors and a win here will see them jump over their opponents into fourth or fifth position dependent on the Spurs/Bolton result.
A win for Villa could also see them in fourth place if Spurs fail to get a result in their match.
Here are some of the stats for the two teams this season:
| Man City | Aston Villa | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 6 | 5 |
| Played | 35 | 36 |
| Points | 63 | 64 |
| Drawn | 12 | 13 |
| Won | 17 | 17 |
| Lost | 6 | 6 |
| Goal difference | 27 | 16 |
| Clean sheets | 11 | 15 |
| Failed to score | 7 | 7 |
| Goals scored | 69 | 51 |
| Goals conceded | 42 | 35 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.0 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Burnley 1 - 6 Man City | Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton |
| Biggest loss | Tottenham 3 - 0 Man City | Chelsea 7 - 1 Aston Villa |
| Score 3 or more | 12 | 4 |
| Concede 3 or more | 5 | 2 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 17 | 18 |
| Points | 37 | 32 |
| Drawn | 4 | 8 |
| Won | 11 | 8 |
| Lost | 2 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 20 | 14 |
| Goals scored | 38 | 29 |
| Goals conceded | 18 | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.2 | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 | 0.8 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 18 | 18 |
| Points | 26 | 32 |
| Drawn | 8 | 5 |
| Won | 6 | 9 |
| Lost | 4 | 4 |
| Goal difference | 7 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 31 | 22 |
| Goals conceded | 24 | 20 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.7 | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.1 |
Burnley relegated after one season
Burnley needed to win the match in order to stay in the top flight and there was a bit of hope as the teams went into half-time goalless.
Liverpool scored four second half goals to seal Burnley's fate.
If Burnley wins its last two matches, the team can only have a tally of 33 points which is less than what West Ham United in fourth place from the bottom have at the moment.
Burnley are more likely to be joined by Hull City in the Championship next season. Hull have a mathematical chance of surviving but in reality they cannot score the 23 goals needed to to better their goal difference.
With two matches to go here is Burnley's season so far:
| Burnley's season | |
|---|---|
| Team | Burnley |
| Played | 36 |
| Points | 27 |
| Won | 7 |
| Drawn | 6 |
| Lost | 23 |
| Goal difference | -41 |
| Clean sheets | 3 |
| Failed to score | 13 |
| Goals scored | 37 |
| Goals conceded | 78 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.2 |
| Biggest win | Hull 1 - 4 Burnley |
| Biggest loss | Tottenham 5 - 0 Burnley Burnley 1 - 6 Man City |
| Scored 3 or more | 4 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 13 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 18 |
| Points | 23 |
| Won | 6 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 7 |
| Goal difference | -7 |
| Goals scored | 21 |
| Goals conceded | 28 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 18 |
| Points | 4 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 1 |
| Lost | 16 |
| Goal difference | -34 |
| Goals scored | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 50 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.8 |
Man Utd faces Spurs test
Spurs are coming from two wins against teams either side of United, Chelsea and Arsenal.
The North London team are still in the run for third place in the league whilst for United the title is still up for grabs if league leaders Chelsea slip in any one their remaining three matches.
United have only lost twice and drawn once at Old Trafford whilst away from White Hart Lane Spurs have lost five and drawn five.
A win for the home team will see them top the table because Chelsea only plays on Sunday whilst a win for Spurs means they will finish the round in fourth place.
Here is some of the stats for the two teams this season:
| Manchester United | Spurs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | 2 | 4 | |||
| Played | 35 | 34 | |||
| Points | 76 | 64 | |||
| Drawn | 4 | 7 | |||
| Won | 24 | 19 | |||
| Lost | 7 | 8 | |||
| Goal difference | 51 | 28 | |||
| Clean sheets | 17 | 11 | |||
| Failed to score | 6 | 9 | |||
| Goals scored | 78 | 62 | |||
| Goals conceded | 27 | 34 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 2.2 | 1.8 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 1.0 | |||
| Biggest win | Wigan 0 - 5 Man United Man United 5 - 0 Wigan Man United 5 - 0 Portsmouth | Tottenham 9 - 1 Wigan | |||
| Biggest loss | Fulham 3 - 0 Man United | Chelsea 3 - 0 Tottenham Arsenal 3 - 0 Tottenham | |||
| Score 3 or more | 16 | 6 | |||
| Concede 3 or more | 3 | 4 | |||
| Home matches | |||||
| Played | 17 | 18 | |||
| Points | 43 | 41 | |||
| Drawn | 1 | 2 | |||
| Won | 14 | 13 | |||
| Lost | 2 | 3 | |||
| Goal difference | 34 | 27 | |||
| Goals scored | 45 | 39 | |||
| Goals conceded | 11 | 12 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 2.6 | 2.2 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 0.7 | |||
| Away matches | |||||
| Played | 18 | 16 | |||
| Points | 33 | 23 | |||
| Drawn | 3 | 5 | |||
| Won | 10 | 6 | |||
| Lost | 5 | 5 | |||
| Goal difference | 17 | 1 | |||
| Goals scored | 33 | 23 | |||
| Goals conceded | 16 | 22 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 1.4 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 1.4 | |||
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007/8 | 4 | Manchester United | 1 | Tottenham | 0 |
| 2007/8 | 25 | Tottenham | 1 | Manchester United | 1 |
| 2008/9 | 17 | Tottenham | 0 | Manchester United | 0 |
| 2008/9 | 34 | Manchester United | 5 | Tottenham | 2 |
| 2009/10 | 5 | Tottenham | 1 | Manchester United | 3 |
Newcastle wraps up Championship title
The Magpies only needed a point to win the title but they secured all three points against the relegation threatened Plymouth.
Its been a very good season for Newcastle who are still unbeaten at home and could finish the season that way with their last fixture being against Ipswich.
Five teams Nottingham Forest, Cardiff, Leicester, Swansea and Blackpool are still vying for the playoffs which will determine the third team to join Newcastle and West Bromwich Albion in the premiership next season.
Wigan clutter Arsenal's title hopes
The Gunners can only with 80 points this season if they win their remaining fixtures and that may not be enough to win the title with Chelsea only needing a win to get to that point tally.
The win was priceless for Wigan as they now have 35 points and one win in their remaining three matches will mean the team will have top flight football next season.
Manchester United won the Manchester derby with a goal in the last minute and with Chelsea losing to Tottenham Hotspurs, the gap at the top has been reduced to just one point.
Manchester United last three fixtures are against Spurs at home, Sunderland away and Stoke at home.
Chelsea's last three fixtures are Stoke at home, Liverpool away and Wigan at home.
Manchester derby : fourth vs second
Both teams have something to chase with just four matches left (five for City) in the season and for United its the title and for City its fourth place.
In their earlier match this season United edged City 4-3 through a goal deep in injury time and since then there have been some changes at City.
City are going into the derby on equal form with United having won four, drawn one and lost one in their last six matches.
Even though a win will not immediately change the ladder position of either team, a win will go a long way in helping at least keep the teams in the hunt for fourth place or the title.
Here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Man Utd | Man City | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 2 | 4 | |||
| Played | 34 | 33 | |||
| Points | 73 | 62 | |||
| Drawn | 4 | 11 | |||
| Won | 23 | 17 | |||
| Lost | 7 | 5 | |||
| Goal difference | 50 | 28 | |||
| Clean sheets | 16 | 10 | |||
| Failed to score | 6 | 5 | |||
| Goals scored | 77 | 69 | |||
| Goals conceded | 27 | 41 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 2.3 | 2.1 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 1.2 | |||
| Biggest win | Wigan 0 - 5 Man United Man United 5 - 0 Wigan Man United 5 - 0 Portsmouth | Burnley 1 - 6 Man City | |||
| Biggest loss | Fulham 3 - 0 Man United | Tottenham 3 - 0 Man City | |||
| Score 3 or more | 16 | 12 | |||
| Concede 3 or more | 3 | 5 | |||
| Home matches | |||||
| Played | 17 | 16 | |||
| Points | 43 | 37 | |||
| Drawn | 1 | 4 | |||
| Won | 14 | 11 | |||
| Lost | 2 | 1 | |||
| Goal difference | 34 | 21 | |||
| Goals scored | 45 | 38 | |||
| Goals conceded | 11 | 17 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 2.6 | 2.4 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.1 | |||
| Away matches | |||||
| Played | 17 | 17 | |||
| Points | 30 | 25 | |||
| Drawn | 3 | 7 | |||
| Won | 9 | 6 | |||
| Lost | 5 | 4 | |||
| Goal difference | 16 | 7 | |||
| Goals scored | 32 | 31 | |||
| Goals conceded | 16 | 24 | |||
| Ave. goals scored | 1.9 | 1.8 | |||
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 1.4 | |||
| Season | Round | Team | Goals | Team | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007/8 | 3 | Manchester City | 1 | Manchester United | 0 |
| 2007/8 | 26 | Manchester United | 1 | Manchester City | 2 |
| 2008/9 | 15 | Manchester City | 0 | Manchester United | 1 |
| 2008/9 | 36 | Manchester United | 2 | Manchester City | 0 |
| 2009/10 | 6 | Manchester United | 4 | Manchester City | 3 |
Spurs beat Gunners to stay in hunt
This was Spurs first win over Arsenal in the league since 1999 and it came at a crucial time as Spurs chase the final Champions League qualifying place.
The other win for Spurs over their North London rivals was in the Carling Cup in the 2008/9 season.
The win has placed dents in the Gunners chase for the title as the team is now six points behind leaders Chelsea with just four matches to go.
With the goal difference Chelsea has it needs two more wins to make sure that they finish above the Gunners this season.
Aston Villa's chase for fourth place also got a big dent after being held to a 2-all draw at home against Everton. Villa have a good chance to finish above Liverpool but after the draw it may prove to be difficult.
FA Cup finalists and already relegated Portsmouth could only manage a goalless draw against Wigan. Wigan is hovering just above relegation and three points would have helped a lot in terms of safety but they let the chance go.
Back to the Spurs/Gunners match, this match was the 15th time Spurs had gone into half time leading the match this season. In all those fifteen times Spurs has gone on to win the match and here is the winning trend for the Premier League so far this season:
| Trend | Frequency | Percentage(%) |
|---|---|---|
| Home team leading at half time, home team winning at full time | 115 | 46.0 |
| Away team leading at half time, away team winning at full time | 50 | 20.0 |
| Home team trailing at half time, home team winning at full time | 9 | 3.6 |
| Away team trailing at half time, away team winning at full time | 4 | 1.6 |
| Draw at half time, home team winning at full time | 47 | 18.8 |
| Draw at half time, away team winning at full time | 25 | 10.0 |
| Matches ending in result | 250 | 74.2 |
Advantage Man City as Liverpool draws again
Manchester City are in top form at the moment scoring 14 goals in their last three matches and conceding just two.
The goal difference that they have built now means that two more wins could be enough to make sure that Liverpool does not finish in the top four.
Fifth placed Tottenham Hotspurs are still to play Arsenal and a win in that match will see them close the gap with City to just one point.
In the relegation battle, Burnley won for the first time away from Turf Moor after beating Hull City 4-1.
That win was also Burnley's biggest win of the season and that was only the fourth time this season that Burnley has scored three goals or more in a match.
With three matches so far in this round ending goalless I will list below the other draw scores so far this season:
| Draw scoreline | Matches |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 26 |
| 1 - 1 | 37 |
| 2 - 2 | 18 |
| 3 - 3 | 4 |
Pompey relegated after West Ham win
Pompey currently have 14 points following the nine point points deduction following entering administration and with five matches remaining the maximum number of points they can accumulate is 29 which will place them in the bottom three.
Its been a poor season for Pompey with so much happening off the pitch and they will have to regroup again next season in the Championship.
West Brom regains promotion
Third placed Nottingham Forest can only reach 84 points if they win all their remaining three matches and so the Baggies with 86 points cannot be reached.
Last week Newcastle United also secured promotion and that means two of the relegated sides from last season have bounced back immediately.
Hull in relegation battle against Burnley
Hull are currently three points ahead of Burnley and a win would take them out of the relegation zone if West Ham failed to beat Sunderland.
A win will not change the position for Burnley unless if they win by a five goal margin to have a better goal difference than Hull.
Burnley has the worst away record in the league and have only a single point and that was in a match at Eastlands against Manchester City.
Hull on the other hand has collected most of its points from home with 23 points coming from six wins and five draws at home.
In their previous match in round 11, Burnley won 2-nil at Turf Moor.
So here is some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Hull | Burnley | |
|---|---|---|
| Streak | LLLLWL | LDLLLL |
| Played | 32 | 33 |
| Points | 27 | 24 |
| Drawn | 9 | 6 |
| Won | 6 | 6 |
| Lost | 17 | 21 |
| Goal difference | -35 | -39 |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 12 | 12 |
| Goals scored | 31 | 32 |
| Goals conceded | 66 | 71 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| Biggest win | Hull 2 - 0 Fulham | Burnley 3 - 1 Sunderland Burnley 2 - 0 Hull |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull | Tottenham 5 - 0 Burnley Burnley 1 - 6 Man City |
| Score 3 or more | 2 | 3 |
| Concede 3 or more | 11 | 12 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 15 | 17 |
| Points | 23 | 23 |
| Drawn | 5 | 5 |
| Won | 6 | 6 |
| Lost | 4 | 6 |
| Goal difference | -1 | -3 |
| Goals scored | 21 | 21 |
| Goals conceded | 22 | 24 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 17 | 16 |
| Points | 4 | 1 |
| Drawn | 4 | 1 |
| Won | 0 | 0 |
| Lost | 13 | 15 |
| Goal difference | -34 | -36 |
| Goals scored | 10 | 11 |
| Goals conceded | 44 | 47 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.6 | 2.9 |
Newcastle back in top flight
The result leaves the team with 89 points from 41 matches and only second placed West Bromwich Albion can catch them now.
Newcastle has an impressive home record. They are unbeaten at St James Park so far after 21 matches and have dropped just eight points.
This is a swift return to the top flight by Newcastle having been relegated last season.
The battle to join Newcastle for an automatic promotion place is now between West Brom and Nottingham Forest.
Hull turns to Dowie
Hull are currently second from the bottom of the table and they have only won at home with no away wins to talk about.
Starting to win away could be the key to survival in their remaining nine fixtures, five are at home and four away.
The away matches are against fellow strugglers Portsmouth and then Stoke, Birmingham and Wigan.
The home ones will be against Fulham, Burnley, Sunderland, Wigan and the last fixture of the season will be against Liverpool.
Pompey deducted nine points
Pompey becomes the first English Premiership team to enter into administration and have points deducted as a result.
The bottom placed side now has ten points and the next team Hull is 14 points away.
With nine matches remaining, Portsmouth will need to win all of them in order to have a chance of surviving another year in the top flight.
The 27 points will leave the team on 37 points but its very unlikely that the team will get all points especially when you look at its season stats as given below:
| Portsmouth's season | |
|---|---|
| Played | 29 |
| Points | 10 |
| Won | 5 |
| Drawn | 4 |
| Lost | 20 |
| Goal difference | -26 |
| Clean sheets | 5 |
| Failed to score | 11 |
| Goals scored | 25 |
| Goals conceded | 51 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 |
| Biggest win | Portsmouth 4 - 0 Wigan |
| Biggest loss | Man United 5 - 0 Portsmouth |
| Scored 3 or more | 1 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 7 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 14 |
| Points | 11 |
| Won | 3 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 9 |
| Goal difference | -5 |
| Goals scored | 17 |
| Goals conceded | 22 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 15 |
| Points | 8 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 11 |
| Goal difference | -21 |
| Goals scored | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 29 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 |
Brown's reign ends at Hull
Brown took the Tigers to the premiership and in their first season in the English Premiership Hull managed to beat top sides like Arsenal and Tottenham away from KC Stadium.
However, despite the good start to the 2008/9 season, Hull did not perform particularly well in the second half of the season.
That poor spilled into this season and now the team lies second from bottom with just 24 points and a win from safety.
Hull has played 29 matches and therefore the new manager has nine matches to secure premiership survival.
Hull has won just five matches and all the wins were at home.
All the wins were won by a one goal margin. Hull is one of just two teams not to have won away so far this season. The other team is Burnley.
So here is some of the stats for Brown's Hull this season in the premiership:
| Brown's Hull | |
|---|---|
| Played | 29 |
| Points | 24 |
| Won | 5 |
| Drawn | 9 |
| Lost | 15 |
| Goal difference | -34 |
| Clean sheets | 4 |
| Failed to score | 11 |
| Goals scored | 27 |
| Goals conceded | 61 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.1 |
| Biggest win | Hull 1 - 0 Bolton Hull 2 - 1 Wigan Hull 2 - 1 Stoke Hull 3 - 2 Everton Hull 2 - 1 Man City |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull |
| Scored 3 or more | 2 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 10 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 14 |
| Points | 20 |
| Won | 5 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Goal difference | -3 |
| Goals scored | 19 |
| Goals conceded | 22 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 15 |
| Points | 4 |
| Won | 0 |
| Drawn | 4 |
| Lost | 11 |
| Goal difference | -31 |
| Goals scored | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 39 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.6 |
Pompey enters administration
Facing a winding up order on the 1st of March, the team has entered administration so that it can continue to run.
Pompey becomes the first Premiership team to enter administration and relegation is now more of a reality.
Pompey has accumulated a paltry 16 points so far this season and with the nine points to be deducted due to administration, they will be left with just seven points.
At the moment Burnley who is second from the bottom has 23 points and already Pompey is seven points adrift.
In order to stay in the league with just 12 matches(36 points available) left, Pompey will need to win most of the matches in order to have a chance.
Relegation fight : Bolton vs Wolves
Bolton are currently in the relegation zone with 23 points and Wolves are two places up.
The two teams are separated by just one point and so a win here is crucial for both teams.
A win for Bolton will certainly take them out of the relegation zone whatever happens elsewhere whilst a loss could see them slip to second from bottom place.
A win for Wolves will take them further away from the relegation and its crucial given that their next match is a home tie against Manchester United.
Bolton has won just three matches at the Reebok Stadium and lost five and hence its not surprising they are in the relegation zone.
Wolves don't have a great away record either having only won twice away from home and so they can fancy their chances here against a team with a poor home record.
Here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Bolton | Wolves | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 18 | 16 |
| Played | 26 | 26 |
| Points | 23 | 24 |
| Drawn | 8 | 6 |
| Won | 5 | 6 |
| Lost | 13 | 14 |
| Goal difference | -20 | -23 |
| Clean sheets | 3 | 5 |
| Failed to score | 10 | 11 |
| Goals scored | 29 | 21 |
| Goals conceded | 49 | 44 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 | 0.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | Bolton 3 - 1 West Ham | Wolves 2 - 0 Burnley |
| Biggest loss | Bolton 0 - 4 Chelsea Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton | Chelsea 4 - 0 Wolves |
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 0 |
| Concede 3 or more | 6 | 6 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 13 | 14 |
| Points | 14 | 15 |
| Drawn | 5 | 3 |
| Won | 3 | 4 |
| Lost | 5 | 7 |
| Goal difference | -6 | -9 |
| Goals scored | 17 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 23 | 19 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 13 | 12 |
| Points | 9 | 9 |
| Drawn | 3 | 3 |
| Won | 2 | 2 |
| Lost | 8 | 7 |
| Goal difference | -14 | -14 |
| Goals scored | 12 | 11 |
| Goals conceded | 26 | 25 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 | 2.1 |
Stalemate at Eastlands as Spurs leap into fourth
In the first match at Anfield the teams drew 2-all but this time there were no goals and both teams moved one spot down the ladder.
Spurs leaped to fourth place after beating Wigan 3-nil and Villa stayed in seventh after a 5-2 win over Burnley.
The team that comes after the fourth place chasing teams is Everton who beat Manchester United 3-1 at Goodison Park.
In consecutive league matches at home, Everton has beaten both Chelsea and Manchester United and now looks so different from a team that conceded six goals in its first home match of the season against Arsenal.
In relegation matters, Portsmouth lost to Stoke despite taking the leading in the first half. That loss leaves them seven points adrift of Burnley who are second from the bottom.
Bolton also lost 3-nil to Blackburn and their situation doesn't seem to be getting any better even with a new manager in place.
Still on matters relegation, here is how the table looks with the relegation teams on top:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth | 26 | 4 | 4 | 18 | 21 | 44 | -23 | 16 |
| Burnley | 26 | 6 | 5 | 15 | 27 | 55 | -28 | 23 |
| Bolton | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 29 | 49 | -20 | 23 |
| Hull | 27 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 25 | 54 | -29 | 24 |
| Wolves | 26 | 6 | 6 | 14 | 21 | 44 | -23 | 24 |
| Wigan | 26 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 26 | 52 | -26 | 25 |
| Sunderland | 26 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 32 | 44 | -12 | 26 |
| West Ham | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 35 | 40 | -5 | 27 |
| Blackburn | 27 | 9 | 7 | 11 | 29 | 43 | -14 | 34 |
| Stoke | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 26 | 29 | -3 | 34 |
| Bham City | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 25 | 28 | -3 | 37 |
| Fulham | 27 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 32 | 29 | 3 | 37 |
| Everton | 26 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 38 | 37 | 1 | 38 |
| Aston Villa | 26 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 37 | 21 | 16 | 45 |
| Liverpool | 27 | 13 | 6 | 8 | 43 | 27 | 16 | 45 |
| Man City | 26 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 48 | 33 | 15 | 46 |
| Tottenham | 27 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 48 | 26 | 22 | 46 |
| Arsenal | 27 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 63 | 30 | 33 | 55 |
| Man United | 27 | 18 | 3 | 6 | 63 | 24 | 39 | 57 |
| Chelsea | 27 | 19 | 4 | 4 | 63 | 22 | 41 | 61 |
Man City, Liverpool battle for fourth
Man City are currently in fourth place and have a game in hand and a win here could help cement fourth place against their direct rivals.
Man City is one of just two teams not have lost at home so far this season and that form will them confidence going into this match.
Of its 12 games at home, Man City has won nine and drawn three.
Liverpool on the other hand lost its last match and that was away to Arsenal. That match is the only match the team has lost in its last six matches.
In the last six matches, Man City has won three, lost two and drawn one and will need to improve on that going to the end of the season.
The match played at Anfield between the two teams ended in a two-all draw and this time a draw may not be a good enough result for either team with matches starting to run out.
Here is some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Liverpool | Man City | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 5 | 4 |
| Played | 26 | 25 |
| Points | 44 | 45 |
| Drawn | 5 | 9 |
| Won | 13 | 12 |
| Lost | 8 | 4 |
| Goal difference | 16 | 15 |
| Clean sheets | 11 | 8 |
| Failed to score | 6 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 43 | 48 |
| Goals conceded | 27 | 33 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.7 | 1.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| Biggest win | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull | Wolves 0 - 3 Man City Man City 4 - 1 Blackburn |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool Portsmouth 2 - 0 Liverpool | Tottenham 3 - 0 Man City |
| Score 3 or more | 5 | 8 |
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 5 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 13 | 12 |
| Points | 29 | 30 |
| Drawn | 2 | 3 |
| Won | 9 | 9 |
| Lost | 2 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 20 | 16 |
| Goals scored | 31 | 30 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.4 | 2.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 1.2 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 13 | 13 |
| Points | 15 | 15 |
| Drawn | 3 | 6 |
| Won | 4 | 3 |
| Lost | 6 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -4 | -1 |
| Goals scored | 12 | 18 |
| Goals conceded | 16 | 19 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.9 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 | 1.5 |
Wolves push Spurs aside
Wolves won by a similar scoreline earlier in the season and once again they defeated their more fancied rivals who are fighting for the Champions League places.
Arsenal are now back on track for the title after beating Liverpool 1-nil and seeing Manchester United draw at Villa Park and Chelsea lose at Goodison.
After losing their last two matches, the Gunners win extended the gap with their rivals to 8 points and from here should finish third or better.
In other results, West Ham eased their relegation worries by beating Birmingham City with goals in each half at Upton Park. The result saw the Hammers leave the relegation zone.
Dropping into the relegation zone this time are Hull and Burnley who both lost their fixtures to Blackburn and Fulham respectively.
I think its to once again have a look at the form table and see which team has performed well in the last six matches:
| Team | P | W | D | L | For | A | GD | Pts | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man United | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 3 | 14 | 14 | DWWWWD |
| Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 13 | WWWDWL |
| Everton | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 13 | DWWWLW |
| Man City | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 12 | WWLWLW |
| Liverpool | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 11 | DWDWWL |
| Arsenal | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 10 | WWDLLW |
| Blackburn | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 10 | LWWDLW |
| Stoke | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 9 | LWDDWD |
| Bham City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | -3 | 8 | WDLDWL |
| Aston Villa | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 7 | LDDWDD |
| Fulham | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 7 | LLLWDW |
| West Ham | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 6 | LDDDLW |
| Tottenham | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 6 | DLWDDL |
| Hull | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 6 | DLDDWL |
| Wigan | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 5 | LWLLDD |
| Wolves | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 9 | -5 | 5 | LLDDLW |
| Sunderland | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 13 | -7 | 4 | DLLDDD |
| Bolton | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 10 | -7 | 4 | LLWLDL |
| Burnley | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 12 | -9 | 3 | LLLLWL |
| Portsmouth | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 14 | -11 | 2 | LDLLLD |
3rd vs 4th : Arsenal vs Liverpool
Liverpool are enjoying a good run of form at the moment having drawn two and four of their last six matches. In those six matches the team has scored seven goals and conceded just once.
On the other hand Arsenal has just lost its last two matches against Manchester United and Chelsea conceding five goals in the process.
In the last six matches the Gunners have drawn two, lost two and won two and scored nine goals. Interesting the team has also conceded nine goals.
A win for the Gunners will keep them in third place but more importantly it will make sure that its rival on the day is further behind.
A win for Liverpool will close the gap between them and the Gunners to just two points making third place a realistic possibility.
In their earlier meeting this season ten rounds ago the Gunners triumphed 2-1 at Anfield and will there attempt to complete a double against their rivals for the Champions League places.
Here is a quick summary for the two teams so far this season:
| Liverpool | Arsenal | |
|---|---|---|
| Form | WDWDWW | DWWDLL |
| Played | 25 | 25 |
| Points | 44 | 49 |
| Drawn | 5 | 4 |
| Won | 13 | 15 |
| Lost | 7 | 6 |
| Goal difference | 17 | 30 |
| Clean sheets | 11 | 8 |
| Failed to score | 5 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 43 | 60 |
| Goals conceded | 26 | 30 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.7 | 2.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| Biggest win | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool Portsmouth 2 - 0 Liverpool | Arsenal 0 - 3 Chelsea |
| Score 3 or more | 5 | 11 |
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 3 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 13 | 12 |
| Points | 29 | 28 |
| Drawn | 2 | 1 |
| Won | 9 | 9 |
| Lost | 2 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 20 | 21 |
| Goals scored | 31 | 35 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.4 | 2.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.8 | 1.2 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 12 | 13 |
| Points | 15 | 21 |
| Drawn | 3 | 3 |
| Won | 4 | 6 |
| Lost | 5 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -3 | 9 |
| Goals scored | 12 | 25 |
| Goals conceded | 15 | 16 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.2 |
Chelsea completes double over Arsenal
The West London club had earlier in the season beaten their rivals from North London 3-nil.
Also completing a double was Liverpool with their 1-nil win against Everton with 10 men.
Everton had gone 12 matches unbeaten but they met a Liverpool which is beginning to find its form and even with ten men, Liverpool managed to secure all three points.
Manchester United had the biggest win of the round winning 5-nil against bottom club Portsmouth. That loss means that Pompey are now six points from the team in second from bottom position, Wolverhampton Wanderers.
There was some movements in the relegation zone with Bolton and Burnley moving and they were replaced by Wolves and West Ham.
In the relegation dog-fight, Burnley beat West Ham to get out of the drop zone and Wolves lost in the West Midlands derby to Birmingham City despite scoring first.
The 5-nil drubbing of Portsmouth by Man Utd was the eighth time a team has won by a goal margin of five goals and here is a table showing the rest of the goal margins for all matches so far this season:
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 63 |
| 1 | 80 |
| 2 | 55 |
| 3 | 24 |
| 4 | 11 |
| 5 | 8 |
| 8 | 1 |
The standout 8 goal margin was Spur's 9-1 win over Wigan.
In-form Everton face Liverpool
Everton last lost in the league in a match against against Liverpool at the November, 2009. Since then Everton has played the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal away and avoided defeated.
The nine match unbeaten run has enabled Everton to climb the ladder from near the relegation zone to ninth at the moment.
A win for Liverpool who are currently fifth could see them rise to fourth depending on other results but a loss could see them drop to seventh.
A win for Everton will see them possibly gain one place whilst a loss at worst will see them drop just one place.
Here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Liverpool | Everton | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 5 | 9 |
| Form | WWDWDW | DWDWWW |
| Played | 24 | 23 |
| Points | 41 | 32 |
| Drawn | 5 | 8 |
| Won | 12 | 8 |
| Lost | 7 | 7 |
| Goal difference | 16 | -1 |
| Clean sheets | 10 | 6 |
| Failed to score | 5 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 42 | 33 |
| Goals conceded | 26 | 34 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Biggest win | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull | Everton 3 - 0 Blackburn |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool Portsmouth 2 - 0 Liverpool | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal |
| Score 3 or more | 5 | 2 |
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 5 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 12 | 12 |
| Points | 26 | 20 |
| Drawn | 2 | 5 |
| Won | 8 | 5 |
| Lost | 2 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 19 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 30 | 18 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.5 | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 12 | 11 |
| Points | 15 | 12 |
| Drawn | 3 | 3 |
| Won | 4 | 3 |
| Lost | 5 | 5 |
| Goal difference | -3 | -4 |
| Goals scored | 12 | 15 |
| Goals conceded | 15 | 19 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.0 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.7 |
Man Utd outclass Arsenal
Before this match Arsenal had lost just once in the league at home, a 3-nil to Chelsea but Man Utd were 2-nil by half time and scored a further goal before the Gunners got their consolation.
The result leaves the Gunners in third place but United are now just one point behind league leaders Chelsea who have a game in hand.
Chelsea won its match against Burnley 2-1 to remain top whilst the loss for Burnley means the team remains in the relegation zone.
In the battle for fourth place there were wins for Manchester City, Aston Villa and Liverpool whilst Tottenham drew.
The draw was costly to Spurs and even though they are still in fourth place, they are only one point ahead of Liverpool and Man City.
The round will finish with a match between Sunderland and Stoke.
Its been a while since I looked at the draws and so this week here is the draws table:
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Ham | 23 | 11 | 9 |
| Everton | 23 | 12 | 8 |
| Hull City | 23 | 9 | 8 |
| Manchester City | 22 | 13 | 8 |
| Aston Villa | 23 | 5 | 7 |
| Birmingham City | 23 | 5 | 7 |
| Blackburn | 24 | 3 | 7 |
| Stoke City | 21 | 7 | 7 |
| Bolton | 22 | 10 | 6 |
| Fulham | 23 | 7 | 6 |
| Tottenham | 24 | 6 | 6 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 23 | 7 | 6 |
| Burnley | 23 | 7 | 5 |
| Liverpool | 24 | 5 | 5 |
| Sunderland | 22 | 8 | 5 |
| Arsenal | 24 | 5 | 4 |
| Wigan | 22 | 5 | 4 |
| Chelsea | 23 | 4 | 3 |
| Portsmouth | 22 | 2 | 3 |
| Manchester United | 24 | 3 | 2 |
Third vs second : Arsenal vs Man Utd
In their first fixture earlier in the season, Arsenal lost 2-1 and now has a chance to even things out at the Emirates with a win.
A win for the Gunners will see them leapfrog their opponents into second place and depending on the Chelsea result could land them top place.
The Gunners have only lost once at home this season and that was the loss to Chelsea.
Manchester United are currently second and are cruising well as they defend the title they won last season.
They have lost four times so far away from Old Trafford and drawn once and therefore look good to get a result that could leave them top of the ladder.
So here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Category | Arsenal | Man United |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 3 | 2 |
| Played | 23 | 23 |
| Points | 49 | 50 |
| Drawn | 4 | 2 |
| Won | 15 | 16 |
| Lost | 4 | 5 |
| Goal difference | 34 | 34 |
| Clean sheets | 8 | 10 |
| Failed to score | 3 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 59 | 53 |
| Goals conceded | 25 | 19 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.6 | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 | 0.8 |
| Biggest win | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal | Wigan 0 - 5 Man United Man United 5 - 0 Wigan |
| Biggest loss | Arsenal 0 - 3 Chelsea | Fulham 3 - 0 Man United |
| Score 3 or more | 11 | 11 |
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 2 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 11 | 12 |
| Points | 28 | 31 |
| Drawn | 1 | 1 |
| Won | 9 | 10 |
| Lost | 1 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 23 | 23 |
| Goals scored | 34 | 31 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 8 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.1 | 2.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 0.7 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 12 | 11 |
| Points | 21 | 19 |
| Drawn | 3 | 1 |
| Won | 6 | 6 |
| Lost | 3 | 4 |
| Goal difference | 11 | 11 |
| Goals scored | 25 | 22 |
| Goals conceded | 14 | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.1 | 2.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 | 1.0 |
Everton's fine form continues
Everton started the season badly and was at one time in the relegation zone but recent good form has seen the team catapult to ninth on the table.
Everton's last loss was a 2-nil loss to Liverpool but since then the team has been unbeaten.
Round 23 also saw Birmingham run of 12 unbeaten matches come to an end after losing 3-nil to Chelsea.
Before that Birmingham's last loss in the league was against Arsenal in October 2009.
The Chelsea win saw the team regain top position on the ladder with Manchester United and Arsenal in second and third spots respectively.
Burnley dropped to the relegation zone after losing to Bolton 1-nil. The win took Bolton out of the relegation places.
However, Burnley can take heart in that there are three teams on 20 points and the goal difference between it and Wolverhampton in 17th place is just one.
So this time I will take a look at the second half scorelines and here they are:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 39 |
| 0 - 1 | 32 |
| 0 - 2 | 9 |
| 0 - 3 | 4 |
| 0 - 5 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 41 |
| 1 - 1 | 28 |
| 1 - 2 | 6 |
| 1 - 3 | 2 |
| 2 - 0 | 26 |
| 2 - 1 | 9 |
| 2 - 2 | 4 |
| 2 - 3 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 10 |
| 3 - 1 | 1 |
| 3 - 2 | 3 |
| 4 - 0 | 2 |
| 4 - 2 | 1 |
| 8 - 1 | 1 |
Coyle faces old team
Coyle has been in charge of his new team for just two league matches and both matches were lost against Arsenal.
Burnley has failed to score in its last two matches against Everton and Manchester United and so will be looking forward to scoring in this match.
This will be the third away match in a row for the team with the poorest away record in the league.
So here is the stats for the two teams so far:
| Bolton | Burnley | |
|---|---|---|
| Streak | DWDDLL | DDLDLL |
| Played | 20 | 21 |
| Points | 18 | 20 |
| Drawn | 6 | 5 |
| Won | 4 | 5 |
| Lost | 10 | 11 |
| Goal difference | -14 | -21 |
| Clean sheets | 0 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 5 | 8 |
| Goals scored | 28 | 22 |
| Goals conceded | 42 | 43 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.1 | 2.0 |
| Biggest win | Bolton 3 - 1 West Ham | Burnley 3 - 1 Sunderland Burnley 2 - 0 Hull |
| Biggest loss | Bolton 0 - 4 Chelsea Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton | Tottenham 5 - 0 Burnley |
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 3 |
| Concede 3 or more | 5 | 8 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 11 | 10 |
| Points | 10 | 19 |
| Drawn | 4 | 4 |
| Won | 2 | 5 |
| Lost | 5 | 1 |
| Goal difference | -7 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 16 | 14 |
| Goals conceded | 23 | 9 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.5 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.1 | 0.9 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 9 | 11 |
| Points | 8 | 1 |
| Drawn | 2 | 1 |
| Won | 2 | 0 |
| Lost | 5 | 10 |
| Goal difference | -7 | -26 |
| Goals scored | 12 | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 19 | 34 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 0.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.1 | 3.1 |
Villa fails to score again
Villa last scored in the league in the 1-nil win against Stoke City. Interestingly that 1-nil win was their fourth clean sheet in a row.
After that match they have since played Arsenal, Liverpool and now West Ham and failed to score a single goal.
But in the same round goals were not a problem at Stamford Bridge where beat Sunderland 7-2. Chelsea were actually 4 goals up at half time and therefore became the first team to score four goals in the first half this season.
Arsenal had an important win over Bolton winning 2-nil at the Reebok. The two teams play each other again in midweek.
That win means Arsenal will go top if they win by more than two goals at the Emirates.
Manchester United stayed in the chase with a 3-nil win over Burnley. All the goals were scored in the second half.
Portsmouth were out of action after their match was the only match postponed in this round. Pompey were due to play in-form Birmingham City.
Following Chelsea's 4-nil half-time score, this week I will show a table showing the rest of the half-time scores so far this season:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 53 |
| 0 - 1 | 34 |
| 0 - 2 | 5 |
| 0 - 3 | 2 |
| 1 - 0 | 56 |
| 1 - 1 | 20 |
| 1 - 2 | 5 |
| 1 - 3 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 14 |
| 2 - 1 | 6 |
| 2 - 2 | 3 |
| 3 - 0 | 5 |
| 3 - 1 | 1 |
| 3 - 2 | 3 |
| 4 - 0 | 1 |
Its interesting to see that the goalless draw is not the most popular result going into half time but a 1-nil scoreline is.
EPL: Everton vs Man City
Both clubs were involved in clashes in round 21 where only three matches were possible and Everton drew Arsenal whilst City won against Blackburn.
The match against Everton will probably be new City manager Roberto Mancini's first serious test and he will know that a win will help cement fourth place.
Everton are currently 12th on the table but they haven't lost a match in their last six matches but they have only won once.
On the other hand City has lost once, drawn once and won the rest in their last six matches and therefore will be looking to extending that winning run.
Here are some of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Man City | Everton | |
|---|---|---|
| Streak | DLWWWW | DDDDWD |
| Played | 20 | 20 |
| Points | 38 | 23 |
| Drawn | 8 | 8 |
| Won | 10 | 5 |
| Lost | 2 | 7 |
| Goal difference | 14 | -6 |
| Clean sheets | 6 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 2 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 42 | 28 |
| Goals conceded | 28 | 34 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.1 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.7 |
| Biggest win | Wolves 0 - 3 Man City Man City 4 - 1 Blackburn | Everton 3 - 0 Blackburn |
| Biggest loss | Tottenham 3 - 0 Man City | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal |
| Score 3 or more | 8 | 2 |
| Concede 3 or more | 5 | 5 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 10 | 10 |
| Points | 24 | 14 |
| Drawn | 3 | 5 |
| Won | 7 | 3 |
| Lost | 0 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 12 | -1 |
| Goals scored | 26 | 14 |
| Goals conceded | 14 | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.6 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.5 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 10 | 10 |
| Points | 14 | 9 |
| Drawn | 5 | 3 |
| Won | 3 | 2 |
| Lost | 2 | 5 |
| Goal difference | 2 | -5 |
| Goals scored | 16 | 14 |
| Goals conceded | 14 | 19 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.9 |
Burnley appoint Laws
Laws started the season at championship side Sheffield Wednesday and stayed there until December when he was sacked and comes to Turf Moor with no previous experience managing in the Premier League.
Burnley are currently two points above the relegation zone and they have essentially been kept out of the relegation zone due to their home form.
Laws will probably need to get more than one point away from home in the second half of the season and maintain the home form in order to avoid relegation.
Laws first match will be against .
Man City rises to fourth
Of the three matches played, only Manchester City managed to win and that win took the Eastlands club to fourth on the table.
Man City's 4-1 win over Blackburn moved the team to fourth three points behind third placed Arsenal and one point ahead of fifth placed Tottenham.
Birmingham City continued their unbeaten streak with the 12th match unbeaten in the league after the draw with Manchester United.
That draw meant that the champions failed to claim top post which a win would have afforded them given Chelsea's inactivity.
With so many matches postponed this week I will take a look at the form table and hope that there will be a full round in round 22.
| Team | P | W | D | L | For | A | GD | Pts | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 14 | WDWWWD |
| Man City | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 13 | DLWWWW |
| Aston Villa | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 12 | WWWWLL |
| Bham City | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 12 | WWDDWD |
| Tottenham | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 11 | DLWWDW |
| Man United | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 10 | LWLWWD |
| Liverpool | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 10 | DLWLWW |
| Chelsea | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 9 | LDWDDW |
| Wolves | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -4 | 9 | WWLWLL |
| Everton | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 8 | DDDDWD |
| Fulham | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 8 | WDWDLL |
| Bolton | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 7 | DLDWDD |
| Portsmouth | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | -2 | 7 | WDLWLL |
| Wigan | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 13 | -6 | 5 | WLDLDL |
| Stoke | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 4 | LDLLLW |
| West Ham | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 4 | LLLDWL |
| Sunderland | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 3 | LDLLDD |
| Blackburn | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 11 | -6 | 3 | DLLDDL |
| Burnley | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | -6 | 3 | LDDLDL |
| Hull | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 12 | -8 | 3 | DLDLLD |
Although Birmingham City are unbeaten in 12 matches, the recent draws mean that they have slid down to fourth on the form table.
Arsenal recent good form sees them take top spot closely followed by Man City who have also scored the most goals in the last six matches.
Hull with just three draws from their last six matches anchor the table.
Coyle opts for Bolton
It would look like Coyle built his Burnley side on home form and his old team only lost once at home in the league. That loss was a 3-1 loss to Wigan.
Teams like champions Manchester United went to Turf Moor and lost whilst the Gunners could only scrap a draw.
Whilst the home form was good, the away form was disastrous. Burnley has only picked one point away from home so far.
Interestingly the Trotters have a poor home form having only won just twice at home compared to Burnley's five wins at home.
So I thought it would be interesting to have a quick comparison between Bolton and Burnley:
| Bolton | Burnley | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 18 | 14 |
| Played | 18 | 20 |
| Points | 18 | 20 |
| Drawn | 6 | 5 |
| Won | 4 | 5 |
| Lost | 8 | 10 |
| Goal difference | -10 | -18 |
| Clean sheets | 0 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 4 | 7 |
| Goals scored | 26 | 22 |
| Goals conceded | 36 | 40 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Biggest win | Bolton 3 - 1 West Ham | Burnley 3 - 1 Sunderland Burnley 2 - 0 Hull |
| Biggest loss | Bolton 0 - 4 Chelsea Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton | Tottenham 5 - 0 Burnley |
| Score 3 or more | 4 | 3 |
| Concede 3 or more | 4 | 7 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 10 | 10 |
| Points | 10 | 19 |
| Drawn | 4 | 4 |
| Won | 2 | 5 |
| Lost | 4 | 1 |
| Goal difference | -5 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 16 | 14 |
| Goals conceded | 21 | 9 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.1 | 0.9 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 10 |
| Points | 8 | 1 |
| Drawn | 2 | 1 |
| Won | 2 | 0 |
| Lost | 4 | 9 |
| Goal difference | -5 | -23 |
| Goals scored | 10 | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 15 | 31 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 0.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 | 3.1 |
The match between Bolton and Burnley ended in a one-all draw.
Gunners continue scoring spree
This was the Gunners third match in a row when they have scored three goals or more.
In 19 matches the Gunners have scored three goals or more in ten of them.
The Gunners average just under 3 goals per match and they have reached the half century mark as they completed the first part of their season's matches.
There were no changes in the top three positions after this round with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all winning but there were changes beyond that.
Tottenham has now moved into fourth place after Aston Villa's last two losses made sure the Midlands outfit slid down to sixth.
Villa had only lost three matches before the Christmas matches but then lost to Arsenal and Liverpool to lose the momentum they have been building up until then.
Birmingham City continued their unbeaten streak after winning away to Stoke but the two draws before that match means they no longer top the form table.
At the bottom, Portsmouth still anchor the table and they are joined by Hull City and Bolton in the relegation zone.
Bolton and Hull played each other in this round and the match ended in a draw despite Bolton being 2-nil up at one stage in the second half. Bolton has since sacked the manager Gary Megson.
Maybe at this time as the league reaches the halfway stage its time to put focus on relegation and show the league table upside down:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth | 20 | -14 | 14 |
| Hull City | 20 | -22 | 18 |
| Bolton | 18 | -10 | 18 |
| West Ham | 20 | -9 | 18 |
| Wigan | 19 | -23 | 19 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 20 | -19 | 19 |
| Burnley | 20 | -18 | 20 |
| Blackburn | 20 | -15 | 21 |
| Stoke City | 19 | -8 | 21 |
| Everton | 19 | -6 | 22 |
| Sunderland | 20 | -3 | 23 |
| Fulham | 19 | 5 | 27 |
| Birmingham City | 20 | 2 | 32 |
| Liverpool | 20 | 12 | 33 |
| Aston Villa | 20 | 11 | 35 |
| Manchester City | 19 | 11 | 35 |
| Tottenham | 20 | 20 | 37 |
| Arsenal | 19 | 30 | 41 |
| Manchester United | 20 | 27 | 43 |
| Chelsea | 20 | 29 | 45 |
Bolton sack boss Megson
Bolton are third from bottom and in their last match under Megson they squandered a two goal lead as they drew 2-all against Hull City.
Megson had been at the Reebok Stadium and this season found his team flirting with relegation although his team has two games in hand.
Here is stats for the Trotters so far this season:
| Megson's Wanderers | |
|---|---|
| Played | 18 |
| Points | 18 |
| Won | 4 |
| Drawn | 6 |
| Lost | 8 |
| Goal difference | -10 |
| Clean sheets | 0 |
| Failed to score | 4 |
| Goals scored | 26 |
| Goals conceded | 36 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 |
| Biggest win | Bolton 3 - 1 West Ham |
| Biggest loss | Bolton 0 - 4 Chelsea Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton |
| Scored 3 or more | 4 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 4 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 10 |
| Points | 10 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 4 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Goal difference | -5 |
| Goals scored | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 21 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.1 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 8 |
| Points | 8 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 2 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Goal difference | -5 |
| Goals scored | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 |
Villa face Liverpool test
Liverpool is coming off a win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in which the Anfield team won 2-nil against ten-man Wolves.
Villa are currently in fourth place and Liverpool are placed seventh.
A win for Villa could take them as high as third depending on other results but a loss could see them as low as sixth.
A win for Liverpool could see them gaining just one place depending on the Manchester City/Wolves match.
Here is the rest of the stats between the two teams going for a top four come May 2010:
| Liverpool | Aston Villa | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 7 | 4 |
| Played | 19 | 19 |
| Points | 30 | 35 |
| Drawn | 3 | 5 |
| Won | 9 | 10 |
| Lost | 7 | 4 |
| Goal difference | 11 | 12 |
| Clean sheets | 6 | 7 |
| Failed to score | 4 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 36 | 29 |
| Goals conceded | 25 | 17 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.9 | 1.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 0.9 |
| Biggest win | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull | Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool Portsmouth 2 - 0 Liverpool | Arsenal 3 - 0 Aston Villa |
| Score 3 or more | 5 | 3 |
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 1 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 10 | 9 |
| Points | 20 | 20 |
| Drawn | 2 | 2 |
| Won | 6 | 6 |
| Lost | 2 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 15 | 11 |
| Goals scored | 26 | 17 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.6 | 1.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 | 0.7 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 9 | 10 |
| Points | 10 | 15 |
| Drawn | 1 | 3 |
| Won | 3 | 4 |
| Lost | 5 | 3 |
| Goal difference | -4 | 1 |
| Goals scored | 10 | 12 |
| Goals conceded | 14 | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 1.1 |
Gunners too good for Villa
A win for Villa would have seen them leapfrog the Gunners into third place but they had no reply to the hosts' three second half goals.
Manchester United maintained its pressure on leaders Chelsea with a 3-1 away win at Hull. Chelsea could only draw its away match against Birmingham which finished goalless. Its gap at the top has now been reduced to just two points.
West Ham had a massive win over Portsmouth winning 2-nil and getting out of the relegation zone.
Bolton after their 1-all draw against Burnley replaces the Hammers in the relegation zone.
For the second time this season there were five draws in a round. The number of draws has been picking up especially considering that they were just four draws from the first seven rounds of the season.
So this time I will take a quick look at the draws table and see how its shaping up now:
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 18 | 13 | 8 |
| Everton | 18 | 10 | 7 |
| Fulham | 18 | 7 | 6 |
| Stoke City | 18 | 6 | 6 |
| West Ham | 19 | 10 | 6 |
| Aston Villa | 19 | 5 | 5 |
| Birmingham City | 19 | 3 | 5 |
| Blackburn | 19 | 1 | 5 |
| Bolton | 17 | 8 | 5 |
| Burnley | 19 | 7 | 5 |
| Hull City | 19 | 5 | 5 |
| Sunderland | 19 | 6 | 4 |
| Tottenham | 19 | 5 | 4 |
| Wigan | 18 | 5 | 4 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 19 | 5 | 4 |
| Chelsea | 19 | 4 | 3 |
| Liverpool | 19 | 4 | 3 |
| Arsenal | 18 | 3 | 2 |
| Portsmouth | 19 | 1 | 2 |
| Manchester United | 19 | 2 | 1 |
3rd vs 4th : Arsenal vs Aston Villa
The two teams are equal on points but the Gunners take third place because of their superior goal difference.
This is a key match in terms of both the title and the top four positions as these clubs are in direct competition on both fronts.
Villa currently lie second on the form table having accumulated 14 points from their last six matches and its important to note that Villa is one of only two teams who haven't lost a match in their last six at the moment. The other is Birmingham City.
The winner of this tie could go into second place depending on Manchester United's result against Hull City.
A loss for either team could see them go down to sixth place also dependent on the Fulham/Spurs match.
Its interesting to see that Villa's next match after this one is against Liverpool, another team aiming to finish in the top four places.
This is the first time for the two teams to meet this season but in the same fixture last season Villa won 2-nil.
This is the rest of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Arsenal | Aston Villa | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 3 | 4 |
| Streak | LLWWDW | DDWWWW |
| Played | 17 | 18 |
| Points | 35 | 35 |
| Drawn | 2 | 5 |
| Won | 11 | 10 |
| Lost | 4 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 24 | 15 |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 7 |
| Failed to score | 2 | 1 |
| Goals scored | 44 | 29 |
| Goals conceded | 20 | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.6 | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 | 0.8 |
| Biggest win | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal | Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton |
| Biggest loss | Arsenal 0 - 3 Chelsea | Aston Villa 0 - 2 Wigan |
| Score 3 or more | 8 | 3 |
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 0 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 9 |
| Points | 21 | 20 |
| Drawn | 0 | 2 |
| Won | 7 | 6 |
| Lost | 1 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 18 | 11 |
| Goals scored | 25 | 17 |
| Goals conceded | 7 | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.1 | 1.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 9 | 9 |
| Points | 14 | 15 |
| Drawn | 2 | 3 |
| Won | 4 | 4 |
| Lost | 3 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 6 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 19 | 12 |
| Goals conceded | 13 | 8 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.1 | 1.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 0.9 |
Chelsea fail to take advantage
Chelsea could have increased its gap at the top to six points with a win at Upton Park but a one-all draw means the gap is now just four points going into the busy Christmas period.
Manchester United lost 3-nil to Fulham to register the champions' biggest loss this season.
Arsenal won its match against Hull City to close the gap to second place to just two points with one game in hand.
Liverpool lost its seventh match of the season after losing 2-nil to relegation threatened Portsmouth.
This is the fourth match Liverpool has lost with a two goal margin with the other three having been just one goal margins.
Pompey's win did not change its position on the ladder but its now within reach of sides four places off the bottom if it wins its next match.
Wolverhampton Wanderers moved out of the relegation zone after its win 2-nil over Burnley. Bolton slipped into the relegation zone but they are still to play Wigan Athletic on Monday night to complete round 18.
I will this time take a look at the away table having looked at the home table in the last round.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | A gainst | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 10 | 8 | 16 |
| Man United | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 15 |
| Aston Villa | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 15 |
| Tottenham | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 15 |
| Arsenal | 9 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 13 | 6 | 14 |
| Man City | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 14 | - 1 | 11 |
| Bham City | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 11 |
| Liverpool | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 14 | -4 | 10 |
| Wolves | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 19 | - 11 | 8 |
| Fulham | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 11 | - 3 | 7 |
| Everton | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 16 | - 5 | 7 |
| Bolton | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 14 | - 5 | 7 |
| Stoke | 9 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 11 | - 7 | 7 |
| Wigan | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 26 | - 15 | 7 |
| West Ham | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 15 | - 5 | 6 |
| Portsmouth | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 14 | -9 | 5 |
| Sunderland | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 16 | -8 | 4 |
| Blackburn | 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 23 | - 17 | 4 |
| Hull | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 24 | - 19 | 2 |
| Burnley | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 29 | - 21 | 1 |
Not surprisingly poor travellers Burnley are bottom of this table with their one point draw at Eastlands.
Man City sack Hughes, appoint Mancini
Hughes' Man City currently lie sixth on the ladder with just two losses and the second one being the midweek 3-nil loss to Tottenham Hotspurs.
Man City's problems has been the number of draws the team has had so far. City has drawn nearly half of its matches.
City has drawn three at home and five away. The draws have cost City a total 16 points.
Two of the draws like against Aston Villa and Liverpool were maybe not that bad but the rest should have been wins for a top team like City.
So here is the stats so far this season for Hughes' Man City:
| Category | Stat |
|---|---|
| Team | Man City |
| Played | 17 |
| Points | 29 |
| Won | 7 |
| Drawn | 8 |
| Lost | 2 |
| Goal difference | 6 |
| Clean sheets | 4 |
| Failed to score | 2 |
| Goals scored | 33 |
| Goals conceded | 27 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
| Biggest win | Blackburn 0 - 2 Man City Man City 4 - 2 Arsenal Man City 3 - 1 West Ham |
| Biggest loss | Tottenham 3 - 0 Man City |
| Scored 3 or more | 6 |
| Conceded 3 or more | 5 |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 8 |
| Points | 18 |
| Won | 5 |
| Drawn | 3 |
| Lost | 0 |
| Goal difference | 7 |
| Goals scored | 20 |
| Goals conceded | 13 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 9 |
| Points | 11 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 2 |
| Goal difference | -1 |
| Goals scored | 13 |
| Goals conceded | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
Everton face in-form Birmingham
Birmingham has picked up 16 points from its last six matches compared to Everton's five and hence it sits on top of the form ladder.
In the last round Birmingham beat Blackburn 2-1 at home but in its last away match the team beat Wigan 3-2.
Everton drew Chelsea at the weekend and did not play in the Premier League because of Europa Cup commitments. In its last home match, Everton drew Tottenham Hotspurs 2-all.
So its going to be interesting to see if Everton can stop Birmingham's splendid run or whether Birmingham can continue its climb up the table.
Here is the rest of the stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Everton | Birmingham City | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 15 | 7 |
| Form | WLLLDD | DWWWWW |
| Played | 16 | 17 |
| Points | 17 | 27 |
| Drawn | 5 | 3 |
| Won | 4 | 8 |
| Lost | 7 | 6 |
| Goal difference | -8 | 1 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 7 |
| Failed to score | 3 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 22 | 18 |
| Goals conceded | 30 | 17 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Everton 3 - 0 Blackburn | Bham City 1 - 0 Portsmouth Hull 0 - 1 Bham City Bham City 2 - 1 Sunderland Bham City 1 - 0 Fulham Wolves 0 - 1 Bham City Wigan 2 - 3 Bham City Bham City 1 - 0 West Ham Bham City 2 - 1 Blackburn |
| Biggest loss | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal | Arsenal 3 - 1 Bham City |
| Score 3 or more | 2 | 1 |
| Concede 3 or more | 5 | 1 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 9 |
| Points | 10 | 17 |
| Drawn | 4 | 2 |
| Won | 2 | 5 |
| Lost | 2 | 2 |
| Goal difference | -3 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 11 | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 14 | 5 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 0.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 | 0.6 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 8 |
| Points | 7 | 10 |
| Drawn | 1 | 1 |
| Won | 2 | 3 |
| Lost | 5 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -5 | -2 |
| Goals scored | 11 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 16 | 12 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 1.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 | 1.5 |
Man City lose second match
Before this match Man City had only lost once and that was the loss at Old Trafford. The result leaves the team in eighth position on the ladder.
City is still the team with the least number of losses but what pushes the team down the ladder is the fact that it is also the team with the highest number of draws. City has drawn eight matches so far.
Arsenal regained third position on goal difference after a draw against Burnley. Burnley has the fifth best home record in the league at the moment and has lost just once at home.
There was no change at the top after both Chelsea and Manchester United won their matches against Portsmouth and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively.
However, there was change at the bottom with Bolton moving out of the relegation following a win over fellow strugglers West Ham.
In round 16 only one home team won but in round 16 six home teams won in the last two days. So this time I will take a look at the home form table that only considers home matches and after the next round I will take a look at the away form table.
Here it is:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 9 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 5 | 20 | 25 |
| Man United | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 22 |
| Tottenham | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 8 | 16 | 18 |
| Arsenal | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 7 | 15 | 18 |
| Burnley | 9 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 18 |
| Liverpool | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 11 | 13 | 17 |
| Aston Villa | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 17 |
| Sunderland | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 17 |
| Bham City | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 17 |
| Fulham | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
| Man City | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 10 | 6 | 15 |
| Blackburn | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 15 |
| Hull | 9 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 15 |
| Stoke | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 14 |
| Wigan | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 11 |
| Everton | 8 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 14 | -3 | 10 |
| Bolton | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 19 | -5 | 9 |
| West Ham | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 15 | 19 | -4 | 8 |
| Wolves | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 8 |
| Portsmouth | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 6 |
As pointed out already Burnley has one of the best home records as shown in this table.
Man City and Chelsea are still to lose at home and Blackburn Rovers.
Relegation fight: Bolton vs West Ham
Bolton are currently second from bottom whilst the Hammers are just above them.
The two teams are separated by just one point and therefore if the Trotters win, they will go above the Hammers.
Depending on other results, a win for either team will get the team out of the relegation zone.
The Trotters have so far won just one match at the Reebok in the league whilst the Hammers have also won just one match away from Upton Park. So it sounds like its going to be an interesting encounter.
Here is the rest of the stats for the two teams:
| West Ham | Bolton | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 18 | 19 |
| Played | 16 | 15 |
| Points | 14 | 13 |
| Drawn | 5 | 4 |
| Won | 3 | 3 |
| Lost | 8 | 8 |
| Goal difference | -7 | -12 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 0 |
| Failed to score | 4 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 24 | 20 |
| Goals conceded | 31 | 32 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.5 | 1.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.9 | 2.1 |
| Biggest win | Wolves 0 - 2 West Ham West Ham 5 - 3 Burnley | Portsmouth 2 - 3 Bolton Bham City 1 - 2 Bolton Bolton 3 - 2 Everton |
| Biggest loss | West Ham 0 - 4 Man United | Bolton 0 - 4 Chelsea Aston Villa 5 - 1 Bolton |
| Score 3 or more | 2 | 3 |
| Concede 3 or more | 5 | 4 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 8 |
| Points | 8 | 6 |
| Drawn | 2 | 3 |
| Won | 2 | 1 |
| Lost | 4 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -4 | -7 |
| Goals scored | 15 | 11 |
| Goals conceded | 19 | 18 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.9 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.4 | 2.3 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 7 |
| Points | 6 | 7 |
| Drawn | 3 | 1 |
| Won | 1 | 2 |
| Lost | 4 | 4 |
| Goal difference | -3 | -5 |
| Goals scored | 9 | 9 |
| Goals conceded | 12 | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 | 1.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 2.0 |
Arsenal outgun Liverpool to stay in the hunt
With Chelsea drawing Everton 3-all and Manchester United losing 1-nil to Aston Villa, the Gunners win means that it has reduced the gap at the top to go back in contention for the title.
This round saw the highest number of draws in a round with six matches ending in a draw. Previously the highest number of draws was five in a round and that was in round 8.
Also in this round only one home team won its match and this was Birmingham City's 1-nil win over West Ham United. This was lowest number of wins by home teams this season in a round. The previous number was three achieved in round 2.
Birmingham is now level on points with Liverpool but is eighth on the table because of goal difference. Liverpool is seventh.
In relegation matters, both Portsmouth and Bolton drew but the Hammers lost.
Wolverhampton Wanderer's win over Tottenham takes them out of the relegation zone and was replaced by the Hammers.
Arsenal was the third away team to be losing at half-time and come winners at full time. In a way Liverpool won the first half and the Gunners won the second and so following on from last week, this week I will take a look at the second half ladder.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 24 | 5 | 19 | 37 |
| Man United | 16 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 25 | 7 | 18 | 33 |
| Liverpool | 16 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 29 |
| Arsenal | 15 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 20 | 11 | 9 | 28 |
| Man City | 15 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 27 |
| Aston Villa | 16 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 26 |
| Tottenham | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 23 | 13 | 10 | 25 |
| Fulham | 16 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 25 |
| Sunderland | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 20 |
| Bham City | 16 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 19 |
| Portsmouth | 16 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 19 |
| Burnley | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 18 | -7 | 19 |
| Wigan | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 12 | 28 | -16 | 18 |
| Everton | 16 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 14 | 17 | -3 | 17 |
| Wolves | 16 | 2 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 16 |
| Stoke | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 13 | -7 | 16 |
| Blackburn | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 17 | -10 | 16 |
| Hull | 17 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 19 | -13 | 14 |
| West Ham | 16 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 18 | -8 | 12 |
| Bolton | 15 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 18 | -9 | 11 |
So Bolton has the worst second half performance whilst Chelsea has the best.
Its interesting to see how this table differs from the actual one especially from the third position downwards.
Battle Anfield : Liverpool vs Arsenal
This is a very interesting fixture because Liverpool has beaten Manchester United and drawn Manchester City at Anfield whilst Arsenal has lost to both teams away.
Arsenal currently lie in third place on the table whilst Liverpool are in seventh place. A win for the home team will make them go one point behind Arsenal and depending on other results could take them as high as fourth.
A win for Arsenal will help them maintain third place and keep abreast with Chelsea and Manchester United while a loss could see them in sixth place assuming Tottenham Hotspurs and Aston Villa win.
So here are some of the stats for the two teams going into this battle at Anfield:
| Liverpool | Arsenal | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 7 | 3 |
| Played | 15 | 14 |
| Points | 24 | 28 |
| Drawn | 3 | 1 |
| Won | 7 | 9 |
| Lost | 5 | 4 |
| Goal difference | 11 | 20 |
| Clean sheets | 5 | 4 |
| Failed to score | 3 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 31 | 38 |
| Goals conceded | 20 | 18 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.1 | 2.7 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| Biggest win | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool | Arsenal 0 - 3 Chelsea |
| Score 3 or more | 5 | 7 |
| Concede 3 or more | 2 | 2 |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 7 |
| Points | 14 | 18 |
| Drawn | 2 | 0 |
| Won | 4 | 6 |
| Lost | 1 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 13 | 15 |
| Goals scored | 21 | 22 |
| Goals conceded | 8 | 7 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.0 | 3.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.1 | 1.0 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 8 | 7 |
| Points | 10 | 10 |
| Drawn | 1 | 1 |
| Won | 3 | 3 |
| Lost | 4 | 3 |
| Goal difference | -2 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 10 | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 12 | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 1.6 |
Everton comeback earns draw against Spurs
Spurs had gone to a 2-nil lead in the second half but Everton managed to score two of their own. Spurs missed a penalty in injury time.
Portsmouth managed a rare win at home after downing Burnley 2-nil but stayed at the bottom. They now trail Bolton in 19th place by just points.
At the top Manchester United closed the gap at the top to just two points after a 4-nil comprehensive win over West Ham United.
Manchester City stopped their run of draws with a win over league leaders and title rivals Chelsea. Man City won 2-1 and Chelsea like Spurs missed a penalty.
Arsenal's win over Stoke City takes them to third place replacing Spurs and Villa maintained fifth after a convincing 3-nil win over Hull City.
This week I will take a look at the first half ladder for the English premiership. This ladder considers the results from the first half only and next week I will take a look at the second half ladder:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 14 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 32 |
| Chelsea | 15 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 27 |
| Aston Villa | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 25 |
| Tottenham | 15 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 23 |
| Man City | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 23 |
| Man United | 15 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 22 |
| Stoke | 15 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 21 |
| West Ham | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 20 |
| Sunderland | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 20 |
| Liverpool | 15 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 19 |
| Bham City | 15 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 19 |
| Wigan | 15 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 19 |
| Everton | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 19 |
| Burnley | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 16 | -7 | 19 |
| Bolton | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 16 |
| Fulham | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 16 |
| Blackburn | 15 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 15 |
| Hull | 16 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 11 | 15 | -4 | 15 |
| Portsmouth | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 12 | -5 | 14 |
| Wolves | 15 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 15 | -12 | 11 |
Pompey face poor travellers Burnley
Burnley hasn't won a match away from home and their only point came from a draw against Manchester City.
Pompey prop the ladder with just seven points and having won just once at Fratton Park.
A win for the Pompey will only lift them from the bottom if Wolverhampton Wanderers lose.
On the other hand a win for Burnley depending on other results could see them be in the top half of the table.
So for the rest of the stats for the two teams at this point of the season see below:
| Portsmouth | Burnley | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 20 | 12 |
| Played | 14 | 14 |
| Points | 7 | 17 |
| Drawn | 1 | 2 |
| Won | 2 | 5 |
| Lost | 11 | 7 |
| Goal difference | -12 | -12 |
| Clean sheets | 3 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 7 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 11 | 19 |
| Goals conceded | 23 | 31 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.8 | 1.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 2.2 |
| Biggest win | Portsmouth 4 - 0 Wigan | Burnley 3 - 1 Sunderland Burnley 2 - 0 Hull |
| Biggest loss | Arsenal 4 - 1 Portsmouth Portsmouth 1 - 4 Man United | Tottenham 5 - 0 Burnley |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 7 |
| Points | 3 | 16 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 1 | 5 |
| Lost | 6 | 1 |
| Goal difference | -4 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 8 | 11 |
| Goals conceded | 12 | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.1 | 1.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.7 | 0.9 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 7 |
| Points | 4 | 1 |
| Drawn | 1 | 1 |
| Won | 1 | 0 |
| Lost | 5 | 6 |
| Goal difference | -8 | -17 |
| Goals scored | 3 | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 11 | 25 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.4 | 1.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 | 3.6 |
Chelsea cruise past Arsenal
That was the Gunners first loss at home this season and also for the first time this season the Gunners were kept goalless in front of their own supporters.
The Gunners slipped to fourth place on the ladder with Tottenham Hotspurs taking their place in third position following a one-all draw at Villa Park.
Defending champions Manchester United maintained second place after overcoming Portsmouth 4-1 at Fratton Park.
In the Merseyside derby, Liverpool got the bragging rights after downing Everton 2-nil at Goodison Park.
Also in another derby in the Midlands, Birmingham got the better of Wolverhampton Wanderers after an early goal was enough to take all three points.
Elsewhere Manchester City had their seventh draw in a row when they were held one-all at home by Hull City. Before this chain of draws started, Manchester City had not drawn a match in the league.
So this week I will take a look at the draws ladder as see how other teams trail Manchester City as they make draws their specialty:
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 13 | 10 | 7 |
| Aston Villa | 14 | 5 | 5 |
| Stoke City | 14 | 4 | 5 |
| West Ham | 14 | 9 | 5 |
| Fulham | 14 | 6 | 4 |
| Hull City | 15 | 5 | 4 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 14 | 5 | 4 |
| Birmingham City | 14 | 2 | 3 |
| Bolton | 13 | 4 | 3 |
| Everton | 14 | 3 | 3 |
| Blackburn | 14 | 0 | 2 |
| Burnley | 14 | 4 | 2 |
| Liverpool | 14 | 4 | 2 |
| Sunderland | 14 | 4 | 2 |
| Tottenham | 14 | 3 | 2 |
| Wigan | 14 | 2 | 2 |
| Arsenal | 13 | 2 | 1 |
| Manchester United | 14 | 2 | 1 |
| Portsmouth | 14 | 0 | 1 |
| Chelsea | 14 | 0 | 0 |
So Aston Villa, West Ham and Stoke City are a close second to Man City with five draws each and Chelsea remains the only team yet to draw a match.
Grant takes over at Pompey
Grant takes over from Paul Hart who left the club early this week and he takes over a club currently rooted at the bottom of the ladder.
Pompey has only won two matches and drawn one and Grant's job immediate takes I assume would be to get the the team winning again and up the ladder.
Pompey's next three league matches are against champions Manchester United, Burnley and Sunderland. There is also a Carling Cup match against Aston Villa before the Burnley game.
London derby : Arsenal vs Chelsea
Arsenal has conceded four goals at home and like Chelsea are still to lose or draw at home.
The Blues have managed to score in every match so far and have scored 3 or more goals in seven matches.
Chelsea currently top the ladder and their London rivals dropped to third only after that loss to the Black Cats.
A win for Chelsea will extend its lead over the Gunners to 11 points whilst a win for the Gunners will help narrow that gap to five points.
Briefly here are the stats for the two teams so far in the league:
| Chelsea | Arsenal | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 1 | 3 |
| Played | 13 | 12 |
| Points | 33 | 25 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 11 | 8 |
| Lost | 2 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 25 | 21 |
| Clean sheets | 8 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 0 | 1 |
| Goals scored | 33 | 36 |
| Goals conceded | 8 | 15 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.6 | 1.3 |
| Biggest win | Chelsea 5 - 0 Blackburn | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal |
| Biggest loss | Wigan 3 - 1 Chelsea | Man City 4 - 2 Arsenal |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 7 | 5 |
| Points | 21 | 15 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 7 | 5 |
| Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 19 | 16 |
| Goals scored | 20 | 20 |
| Goals conceded | 1 | 4 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.9 | 4.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.1 | 0.8 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 6 | 7 |
| Points | 12 | 10 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 4 | 3 |
| Lost | 2 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 6 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 13 | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 7 | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 | 1.6 |
Hart, Pompey part company
Pompey has won just two matches and drawn one for its seven points and currently anchor the ladder.
In Hart's last match in charge, the team lost to 1-nil to Stoke and this was after a missed penalty in the first half.
Hart becomes the first Premiership manager to lose his job this season.
So here is some of the stats for Pompey after 13 round in the English Premiership:
| Hart's Portsmouth | |
|---|---|
| Team | Portsmouth |
| Played | 13 |
| Points | 7 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 1 |
| Lost | 10 |
| Goal difference | -9 |
| Clean sheets | 3 |
| Failed to score | 7 |
| Goals scored | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 19 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 |
| Biggest win | Portsmouth 4 - 0 Wigan |
| Biggest loss | Arsenal 4 - 1 Portsmouth |
| Home matches | |
| Played | 6 |
| Points | 3 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Lost | 5 |
| Goal difference | -1 |
| Goals scored | 7 |
| Goals conceded | 8 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 |
| Away matches | |
| Played | 7 |
| Points | 4 |
| Won | 1 |
| Drawn | 1 |
| Lost | 5 |
| Goal difference | -8 |
| Goals scored | 3 |
| Goals conceded | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 0.4 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.6 |
Spurs on the rampage against Wigan
This is Spurs biggest victory in the English Premiership and its only the second time that a team has scored nine goals in an English Premiership match.
The only other team to have scored nine goals is Manchester United in a 9-nil victory over Ipswich in 1995.
The result means that the Spurs has now scored 32 goals this season and are now in third place in terms of goal scoring behind London rivals Arsenal with 36 and Chelsea with 33 goals.
Elsewhere Liverpool and Manchester City drew resulting in Liverpool having the second consecutive 2-all draw at home.
It was also City's sixth successive draw and City becomes the first team to have drawn six matches in a row this season.
Chelsea maintained its first position on the ladder whilst Arsenal's loss to Sunderland meant that the Gunners slip down to third.
Sunderland are now in eighth place on the table with the same points as Liverpool but have an inferior goal difference.
So this week I will take a look at the away ladder and see which teams have the best away performance:
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 12 |
| Arsenal | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 10 |
| Man City | 7 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Tottenham | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 10 |
| Man United | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 9 |
| Aston Villa | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| West Ham | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 6 |
| Fulham | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 10 | -3 | 6 |
| Liverpool | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 6 |
| Bolton | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 11 | -4 | 6 |
| Everton | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 6 |
| Stoke | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 6 |
| Wigan | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 22 | -14 | 6 |
| Wolves | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 16 | -9 | 5 |
| Bham City | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 10 | -4 | 4 |
| Sunderland | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 4 |
| Portsmouth | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 | -8 | 4 |
| Blackburn | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 18 | -13 | 3 |
| Hull | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 17 | -13 | 1 |
| Burnley | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 20 | -15 | 1 |
So Burnley has the worst away record having collected only one point in a match against Man City.
Chelsea still maintain the best away form despite both their losses coming away from home.
Liverpool face Man City challenge
Both teams are coming off draws at home and if the match is a draw then it will be City's sixth draw in a row.
Man City hasn't lost in the last six matches in the league but it has only won once.
On the other hand the Anfield based outfit has lost three matches in the last six and won just two.
I think whichever team loses this fixture it will be a very significant loss.
Here is the rest of the stats after 12 rounds:
| Liverpool | Man City | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 7 | 6 |
| Played | 12 | 11 |
| Points | 19 | 20 |
| Drawn | 1 | 5 |
| Won | 6 | 5 |
| Lost | 5 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 9 | 7 |
| Clean sheets | 3 | 4 |
| Failed to score | 2 | 1 |
| Goals scored | 27 | 21 |
| Goals conceded | 18 | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.3 | 1.9 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.5 | 1.3 |
| Biggest win | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull | Blackburn 0 - 2 Man City Man City 4 - 2 Arsenal Man City 3 - 1 West Ham |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool Fulham 3 - 1 Liverpool | Man United 4 - 3 Man City |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 6 | 5 |
| Points | 13 | 11 |
| Drawn | 1 | 2 |
| Won | 4 | 3 |
| Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 13 | 5 |
| Goals scored | 19 | 13 |
| Goals conceded | 6 | 8 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.2 | 2.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.6 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 6 | 6 |
| Points | 6 | 9 |
| Drawn | 0 | 3 |
| Won | 2 | 2 |
| Lost | 4 | 1 |
| Goal difference | -4 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 8 | 8 |
| Goals conceded | 12 | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.3 | 1.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 2.0 | 1.0 |
Liverpool snatch draw against Brum
Liverpool had gone into half-time trailing the visitors 1-2 but a second half penalty ensured the sided shared the spoils.
The draw means that the Anfield outfit stays in seventh position on the ladder whilst Birmingham is just three places above the relegation places.
Also in round 12, league leaders Chelsea extended their lead at the top to five points after beating Manchester United by 1-nil.
That loss for Manchester United coupled by Arsenal's win over Wolverhampton Wanderers means that the Gunners leapfrogged them into second position with the defending champions in third place on goal difference.
Burnley drew with Manchester City and following Liverpool's draw, Chelsea is the only team in the league not to have drawn at this stage of the season.
This week I will take a look at the home ladder and in the next post on the English premiership I will take a look at the away ladder.
| Team | Played | Won | Draw | Lost | For | Against | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 1 | 15 | 18 |
| Man United | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 16 |
| Arsenal | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 4 | 16 | 15 |
| Burnley | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 15 |
| Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 13 |
| Aston Villa | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 5 | 7 | 13 |
| Sunderland | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 13 |
| Blackburn | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 13 |
| Tottenham | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 12 |
| Man City | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 11 |
| Stoke | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| Hull | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 10 |
| Fulham | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 9 |
| Everton | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 9 |
| Bham City | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 |
| Wigan | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 8 |
| West Ham | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 12 | -2 | 5 |
| Bolton | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 13 | -5 | 5 |
| Wolves | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 5 |
| Portsmouth | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 8 | -1 | 3 |
So not surprising Chelsea top the home ladder with a perfect record and only one goal conceded.
Portsmouth anchor the ladder after their poor start to the season.
Chelsea face Man Utd challenge
Man Utd lost its last away match 2-nil to title challengers Liverpool and will now face another title challenge away from home.
The two teams are separated by just two points and a win for the home team would open that gap to five points.
Here is some of the stats for the two teams after 11 matches in the league:
| Chelsea | Man United | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 1 | 2 |
| Played | 11 | 11 |
| Points | 27 | 25 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 9 | 8 |
| Lost | 2 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 20 | 12 |
| Clean sheets | 6 | 4 |
| Failed to score | 0 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 28 | 23 |
| Goals conceded | 8 | 11 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.5 | 2.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.7 | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Chelsea 5 - 0 Blackburn | Wigan 0 - 5 Man United |
| Biggest loss | Wigan 3 - 1 Chelsea | Liverpool 2 - 0 Man United |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 5 | 6 |
| Points | 15 | 16 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 5 | 5 |
| Lost | 0 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 14 | 6 |
| Goals scored | 15 | 13 |
| Goals conceded | 1 | 7 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.0 | 2.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.2 | 1.2 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 6 | 5 |
| Points | 12 | 9 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 4 | 3 |
| Lost | 2 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 6 | 6 |
| Goals scored | 13 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 7 | 4 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.2 | 2.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.2 | 0.8 |
Big win for Pompey
This is hardly surprising to be their biggest win as this was only the team's second win so far and suddenly things are beginning to look up at Fratton Park.
However, this win was not enough to lift the team from the bottom of the table but they are tied on points with West Ham and poor goal difference sees them anchor the table.
After beating Manchester United in the previous round at home, Liverpool lost its third consecutive away match after losing 1-3 to Fulham.
The top three teams all won and there is so after round 11 there is no change at the top.
So this week I take a look at the form table looking at the last six matches only:
| Team | P | W | D | L | For | A | GD | Pts | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 19 | 5 | 14 | 16 | WWWWDW |
| Man United | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 13 | WWDWLW |
| Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 12 | WLWLWW |
| Liverpool | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 9 | WWLLWL |
| Everton | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 9 | WWDDLD |
| Aston Villa | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 9 | WLDWDD |
| Stoke | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 9 | DLDWWD |
| Burnley | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 13 | -3 | 9 | WLWLLW |
| Fulham | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 8 | LLDWDW |
| Sunderland | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 11 | 1 | 8 | LWDWLD |
| Bolton | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 12 | -3 | 8 | DWDLWL |
| Man City | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 7 | LWDDDD |
| Portsmouth | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 7 | LLWLDW |
| Tottenham | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 10 | -1 | 7 | LWDWLL |
| Bham City | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 7 | WLLLWD |
| Wigan | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 13 | -5 | 7 | LWLDWL |
| Wolves | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 11 | -3 | 6 | WLLDDD |
| Blackburn | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 19 | -12 | 6 | LWLWLL |
| Hull | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | -9 | 4 | LLWLDL |
| West Ham | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 14 | -4 | 3 | LLDLDD |
Its not surprising Arsenal are the form team having not lost in their last six matches.
Gunners, Spurs tussle for third place
The two teams are currently tied on 19 but the Gunners have a superior goal difference and they also have a game in hand.
A loss in this match could see Gunners down to eighth place and Spurs to tenth.
A win for either will see the team go second depending on other results but third place would be the lowest position the team will get.
So here is the some of the stats so far this season for the two teams:
| Arsenal | Tottenham | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 3 | 4 |
| Played | 9 | 10 |
| Points | 19 | 19 |
| Drawn | 1 | 1 |
| Won | 6 | 6 |
| Lost | 2 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 16 | 7 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 1 |
| Failed to score | 0 | 2 |
| Goals scored | 29 | 21 |
| Goals conceded | 13 | 14 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.2 | 2.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.4 |
| Biggest win | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal | Tottenham 5 - 0 Burnley |
| Biggest loss | Man City 4 - 2 Arsenal | Chelsea 3 - 0 Tottenham |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 4 | 5 |
| Points | 12 | 9 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 4 | 3 |
| Lost | 0 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 13 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 17 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 4 | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 4.3 | 2.0 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.2 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 5 | 5 |
| Points | 7 | 10 |
| Drawn | 1 | 1 |
| Won | 2 | 3 |
| Lost | 2 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 3 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 12 | 11 |
| Goals conceded | 9 | 8 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.4 | 2.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 | 1.6 |
Liverpool ends losing streak
Before this match Liverpool had lost two consecutive league and Champions League matches and they ended this run after scoring two goals in the second half.
The win sees Liverpool move to fifth position on the table from eighth and United slip to second.
Manchester City drew with Fulham and slip out of the top five positions.
There was no change at the bottom in terms of position as all four teams at the bottom drew.
At the start of the season there were very few draws but the number of draws has now increased to 15 which is 15.6% of the matches.
So this week I will show you the draws ladder:
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 9 | 4 | 3 |
| Stoke City | 10 | 2 | 3 |
| West Ham | 9 | 4 | 3 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 10 | 3 | 3 |
| Aston Villa | 9 | 2 | 2 |
| Bolton | 9 | 3 | 2 |
| Everton | 9 | 2 | 2 |
| Fulham | 9 | 4 | 2 |
| Hull City | 10 | 1 | 2 |
| Arsenal | 9 | 2 | 1 |
| Birmingham City | 10 | 0 | 1 |
| Blackburn | 9 | 0 | 1 |
| Manchester United | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| Portsmouth | 10 | 0 | 1 |
| Sunderland | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| Tottenham | 10 | 2 | 1 |
| Wigan | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Burnley | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Chelsea | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Liverpool | 10 | 0 | 0 |
So Chelsea, Burnley and Liverpool are now the only teams still to draw a match.
Liverpool face Man U test
The Anfield outfit currently lies in eighth position on the ladder whilst the defending champions current sit on the summit.
The two teams are also coming from contrasting European fortunes with United having won away and Liverpool losing at home.
So here are some of the facts so far this season:
| Liverpool | Man United | |
|---|---|---|
| Rank | 8 | 1 |
| Played | 9 | 9 |
| Points | 15 | 22 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 5 | 7 |
| Lost | 4 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 9 | 12 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 2 | 1 |
| Goals scored | 22 | 21 |
| Goals conceded | 13 | 9 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.4 | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull | Wigan 0 - 5 Man United |
| Biggest loss | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa Chelsea 2 - 0 Liverpool | Burnley 1 - 0 Man United |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 4 | 5 |
| Points | 9 | 13 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 3 | 4 |
| Lost | 1 | 0 |
| Goal difference | 11 | 4 |
| Goals scored | 15 | 11 |
| Goals conceded | 4 | 7 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.8 | 2.2 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 1.4 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 5 | 4 |
| Points | 6 | 9 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 2 | 3 |
| Lost | 3 | 1 |
| Goal difference | -2 | 8 |
| Goals scored | 7 | 10 |
| Goals conceded | 9 | 2 |
| Ave. goals scored | 1.4 | 2.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 | 0.5 |
Bottom four all lose
There were joined in the losers' list by Chelsea and Liverpool who lost away to Aston Villa and Sunderland respectively.
Liverpool's loss was its fourth of the season and the team now sits in eighth place whilst slipped to second after its second loss of the season.
Only Fulham and Blackburn won of the teams in the bottom half of the table.
There have been 25 different scorelines so far this season and here they are:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 2 |
| 0 - 1 | 9 |
| 0 - 2 | 5 |
| 0 - 5 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 9 |
| 1 - 1 | 6 |
| 1 - 2 | 4 |
| 1 - 3 | 3 |
| 1 - 5 | 1 |
| 1 - 6 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 5 |
| 2 - 1 | 14 |
| 2 - 2 | 3 |
| 2 - 3 | 3 |
| 3 - 0 | 3 |
| 3 - 1 | 5 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 3 |
| 4 - 1 | 2 |
| 4 - 2 | 1 |
| 4 - 3 | 1 |
| 5 - 0 | 1 |
| 5 - 2 | 1 |
| 6 - 1 | 1 |
| 6 - 2 | 1 |
2-1 is by far the most popular scoreline followed by 1-0 and 0-1.
Gunners go for the Blues
With 24 goals so far, the Gunners have scored more goals than any other team and with just five goals, the Blues have the second worst goal scoring record.
Only bottom placed Portsmouth have scored less that the Blues with just four goals.
So here is the rest of the stats so far:
| Arsenal | Birmingham City | |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 5 | 12 |
| Played | 7 | 8 |
| Points | 15 | 7 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 5 | 2 |
| Lost | 2 | 5 |
| Goal difference | 14 | -3 |
| Clean sheets | 2 | 3 |
| Failed to score | 0 | 3 |
| Goals scored | 24 | 5 |
| Goals conceded | 10 | 8 |
| Ave. goals scored | 3.4 | 0.6 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.4 | 1.0 |
| Biggest win | Everton 1 - 6 Arsenal | Bham City 1 - 0 Portsmouth Hull 0 - 1 Bham City |
| Biggest loss | Man City 4 - 2 Arsenal | Man United 1 - 0 Bham City Tottenham 2 - 1 Bham City Bham City 0 - 1 Aston Villa Bham City 1 - 2 Bolton Burnley 2 - 1 Bham City |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 3 | 4 |
| Points | 9 | 4 |
| Drawn | 0 | 1 |
| Won | 3 | 1 |
| Lost | 0 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 11 | -1 |
| Goals scored | 14 | 2 |
| Goals conceded | 3 | 3 |
| Ave. goals scored | 4.7 | 0.5 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.0 | 0.8 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 4 | 4 |
| Points | 6 | 3 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 2 | 1 |
| Lost | 2 | 3 |
| Goal difference | 3 | -2 |
| Goals scored | 10 | 3 |
| Goals conceded | 7 | 5 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.5 | 0.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.8 | 1.3 |
Pompey gets first win
Pompey had gone 8 without getting a single point and the three points against Wolves means the team is just two points away from West Ham and four points behind Birmingham, Fulham, Blackburn and Wolves.
In theory two consecutive wins could see Pompey go as high as 13th. Pompey next four fixtures are against Tottenham, Hull, Stoke and Wigan.
Looking at the top of the ladder, Chelsea beat Liverpool 2-nil to inflict Liverpool's third defeat of the season. Last season Liverpool lost just two matches - both away - and had 11 draws.
To put the current state into that same context it will be like two losses and three draws so far.
Looking back below is the final table for for the 2008/9 season for the top four teams.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | P | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Man United | 38 | 28 | 6 | 4 | 68 | 24 | 44 | 90 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 38 | 25 | 11 | 2 | 77 | 27 | 50 | 86 |
| 3 | Chelsea | 38 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 68 | 24 | 44 | 83 |
| 4 | Arsenal | 38 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 68 | 37 | 31 | 72 |
So Liverpool lost the fewest matches of the top four teams and Arsenal had the most draws with 12 although Liverpool were a close 11.
Manchester United drew the least with just six draws and none so far this season.
EPL: Chelsea-Liverpool in crunch game
On the other hand, Liverpool had their biggest win of the season after beating Hull City 6-1 at home.
However, in midweek Chelsea won its UEFA Champions League match whilst Liverpool lost.
Below is the EPL stats for the two teams so far this season:
| Category | Chelsea | Liverpool |
|---|---|---|
| Position | 2 nd | 3 rd |
| Played | 7 | 7 |
| Points | 18 | 15 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 6 | 5 |
| Lost | 1 | 2 |
| Goal difference | 10 | 12 |
| Clean sheets | 3 | 2 |
| Failed to score | 0 | 0 |
| Goals scored | 16 | 22 |
| Goals conceded | 6 | 10 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.3 | 3.1 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.9 | 1.4 |
| Biggest win | Chelsea 3 - 0 Burnley Chelsea 3 - 0 Tottenham | Liverpool 6 - 1 Hull |
| Biggest loss | Wigan 3 - 1 Chelsea | Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa |
| Home matches | ||
| Played | 3 | 4 |
| Points | 9 | 9 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 3 | 3 |
| Lost | 0 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 7 | 11 |
| Goals scored | 8 | 15 |
| Goals conceded | 1 | 4 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.7 | 3.8 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 0.3 | 1.0 |
| Away matches | ||
| Played | 4 | 3 |
| Points | 9 | 6 |
| Drawn | 0 | 0 |
| Won | 3 | 2 |
| Lost | 1 | 1 |
| Goal difference | 3 | 1 |
| Goals scored | 8 | 7 |
| Goals conceded | 5 | 6 |
| Ave. goals scored | 2.0 | 2.3 |
| Ave. goals conceded | 1.3 | 2.0 |
Man Utd go top as Chelsea slips
Chelsea's lost meant that every team in the English Premier League has now lost at least one match.
However, Portsmouth's loss to Everton means that Pompey remains the only team without a win.
The next match for Portsmouth is away to Wolverhampton.
The biggest results for the weekend were Tottenham's 5-nil win over Burnley and Liverpool's 6-1 win over Hull City and so this week we will take a look at the winning margin and the number of matches with that margin.
| Goal Margin | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 | 4 |
| 1 | 32 |
| 2 | 16 |
| 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 4 |
With just four draws after seven rounds, the most popular winning margin is winning by an goal.
Interestingly four matches have finished with a five goal margin already and they were two in round 7 alone.
Home teams dominate in round 6
West Ham and Hull were the only two home teams to register a point in round a point after losses to Liverpool and Birmingham City respectively.
The tenth result was a draw which saw Stoke City become the first team to have two draws under its belt in a season of very few draws.
This week we take a look at the second half ladder after showing the first half ladder last week. The second half considers only results from the second half of the match.
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 6 | 10 | 18 |
| Manchester United | 6 | 9 | 14 |
| Liverpool | 6 | 6 | 14 |
| Tottenham | 6 | 1 | 10 |
| Arsenal | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| Manchester City | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| Aston Villa | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| Birmingham City | 6 | 0 | 8 |
| Sunderland | 6 | -1 | 8 |
| Everton | 5 | -1 | 7 |
| Wigan | 6 | -7 | 7 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 6 | -1 | 6 |
| Burnley | 6 | -2 | 6 |
| Fulham | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| West Ham | 5 | -2 | 4 |
| Blackburn | 5 | -3 | 4 |
| Portsmouth | 6 | -3 | 4 |
| Stoke City | 6 | -3 | 4 |
| Bolton | 5 | -2 | 3 |
| Hull City | 6 | -7 | 3 |
So Chelsea so far have impressive second halves having won all of them and in second place is Manchester United.
On the bottom of the ladder is Hull with just three points.
Third round without a draw
There were also no draws in rounds 1 and 2 and in rounds 3 and 4 there were one and two draws respectively.
So with only three draws in the season so far only Birmingham City, Blackburn, Hull City, Stoke, Wolves and West Ham have had drawn matches.
Of three draws, two of them were goalless and one was a one-all draw.
In other developments in round five, Tottenham Hotspurs lost at home to Manchester United leaving only Manchester City and Chelsea as the unbeaten sides going into round six.
Fulham became the third team this season to win a match after trailing at half time. Fulham went to the break trailing Everton by 1 goal to nil but came back to win the match 2-1 in the second half.
This week we take a look at the first half ladder. This considers only results up to half time and next week we will have a second half ladder.
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester City | 4 | 4 | 12 |
| Arsenal | 4 | 4 | 9 |
| Tottenham | 5 | 2 | 8 |
| Chelsea | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| Stoke City | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| Sunderland | 5 | 1 | 8 |
| Aston Villa | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| Liverpool | 5 | 1 | 7 |
| Manchester United | 5 | 0 | 7 |
| West Ham | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Wigan | 5 | 0 | 6 |
| Hull City | 5 | -1 | 6 |
| Burnley | 5 | -3 | 6 |
| Bolton | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| Blackburn | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| Birmingham City | 5 | -1 | 4 |
| Everton | 4 | -3 | 4 |
| Fulham | 4 | -2 | 3 |
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 5 | -3 | 3 |
| Portsmouth | 5 | -4 | 1 |
So Manchester City has gone into half time leading in all its matches so far whilst the best Portsmouth has done going into half time has been a draw.
Villa stops Liverpool's home run
Last season the Anfield based outfit finished the season without losing a single league match and the team last lost a league match against in December 2007 in a 1-nil loss to Manchester United.
Also last season Liverpool lost just two matches - away to Tottenham Hotspurs and Middlesbrough but this season that number has already been reached in round 3.
The win was Aston Villa's first of the season although it was also the team's second match of the season.
Spurs and Chelsea remain the top two teams on the ladder after wins against Hull and Fulham respectively over the weekend.
Its early in the season but in the relegation zone there is winless Bolton, Portsmouth and an inferior goal difference means Everton anchor the ladder.
Also winless at this stage is Bolton and their next match is home against Liverpool.
Promoted sides all win
Of these wins, the biggest is arguably Burnley's 1-nil over defending champions Manchester United.
Wolverhampton Wanderers won 1-nil away at Wigan whilst Birmingham City needed a last minute penalty to beat Portsmouth at home.
Burnley's next visitors at Turf Moor will be Everton who lost 6-1 to Arsenal in round 1.
Sixteen matches into the season and still there is no draw and so lets see what round 3 will bring.
Goals galore for the Gunners
The Gunners were the only team in round 1 to score more than two goals. In the same round last season, also one team managed to score more than two goals and that was Manchester United against Aston Villa.
Other two highlights from this year's English Premier League first round was that there were no draws and also the majority of wins were by away teams.
In the same round last season there were two goalless draws and four home wins.
All the three promoted teams failed to win a match and they also all failed to score a single goal.
In round 2 there are four postponed matches because of European commitments but all the but all the promoted teams matches are going ahead and so they have another chance to open their accounts.
Hart gets Pompey job full time
Hart took over from Tony Adams after the former Arsenal defender won just two out of 16 Premier League games.
Hart managed to steer Pompey out of relegation zone and now he will start from the beginning of the season.
Last season Pompey started with Harry Redknapp as manager but he left for Spurs in October and was replaced by Adams.
2009/10 Premiership fixtures released
The 2009/10 season will kick-off on Saturday 15th of August with the two of three promoted sides playing away from home.
Wolverhampton Wanderers will start with a home game against West Ham but Burnley and Birmingham will start away to Stoke and Manchester United respectively.
The season will complete on the 9th of May 2010 and the season is finishing earlier than last season because of the South Africa 2010 World Cup.
These fixtures will soon be available on TipsChallenge to prepare for tipping for the new season.
Wigan nets Martinez
Martinez left Championship side Swansea to replace Steve Bruce who went to Sunderland.
Last season Wigan did well finishing eleventh on the ladder and its not surprising to see that Sunderland were very keen for Bruce as their side fought relegation to the last day.
Sunderland appoint Bruce
Bruce has been with Wigan who finished eleventh and now joins a team that finished below him in 16th.
Bruce's move means that Wigan are now the team looking for a manager.
Chelsea turns to Ancelotti
For the second season running Chelsea will start a new season with a new manager.
Last season Chelsea started with Felipe Scolari but then he was replaced by Guus Hiddink who steered the club to an FA Cup win.
With Ancelotti now at Chelsea, that leaves only Sunderland looking for a manager.
Burnley enters premiership
Burnley only needed one goal to get into the Premiership for the first time whilst the Blades will have to wait another year.
Victory for Burnley is not that surprising after the Clarets beat the Blades in both games in the normal season.
Burnley's promotion completes the Premiership lineup for the 2009/10 season after Wolverhamptom Wanderers and Birmingham City got automatic promotion.
Boro, Newcastle relegated
Whilst a draw would have been enough for Newcastle given that both Sunderland and Hull failed to win, a narrow loss to Aston Villa means the club now joins the Championship next season.
Boro had been in the relegation zone for most of the season and the relegation was no surprise to many followers of the premiership.
Both Hull and Sunderland who were in danger of relegation lost but they stay in the league because Newcastle in particular failed to either draw or win.
A draw for the Magpies would have sent Hull down instead.
There were no changes at the top with all the top six sides winning their matches.
Fulham took seventh place after a remarkable season which was mostly driven by their home form.
The final team for the 2009/10 premiership season will be confirmed tonight after the playoff final between Burnley and Sheffield United.
Man United wins title
Man Utd needed a draw to secure their third consecutive title and they got the result in a goalless draw.
Liverpool can only finish on 86 points and look assured of second spot even if they were to lose the last match because they have a five goal advantage over Chelsea.
West Bromwich Albion became the first team to be relegated this season after losing to Liverpool at home.
Currently on 31 points, the Baggies needed a win to make sure they took the battle against relegation to the last day.
The teams to join the Black Country team in the Championship next season will come from two of Sunderland, Hull, Middlesbrough and Newcastle.
If the Black Cats beat Portsmouth then they will secure their premiership status for another year.
Burnley and Sheffield in play-off final
Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City got direct promotion and the third slot will be taken by the play-off winner.
In the Championship season, Burnley beat Sheffield both home and away. Away at Bramall Lane Burnley won 3-2 and then at home they got a narrow 1-nil win.
Sheffield will be hoping to turn the tables around in the final.
Burnley were last in the top division in the 1975/76 season and Sheffield in the 2006/07 season.
Newcastle out of relegation zone
They were replaced by Hull City who continue their decline from the heights of fourth place at one time during the season.
Newcastle are getting out of the relegation zone at the right time with just two matches to play.
Looking at the matches the relegation threatened sides are going to play, Newcastle have Fulham at home and then Aston Villa away.
Sunderland have Portsmouth away and then finish off with Chelsea at home.
Middlesbrough have Aston Villa at home and then finish off the season at Upton Park against West Ham.
West Bromwich Albion face Liverpool next and then play Blackburn away on the last day.
Hull next play at the Reebok against Bolton before hosting Manchester United on the last day of the season.
Hull's poor form continues
This was Hull's fourth consecutive loss and in the last six matches the best Hull has managed to do is get a single draw.
If that poor perform continues over the remaining three matches there is a real danger that the team could be relegated but that will depend on the teams below it performing badly too.
Hull plays Stoke, Bolton and Manchester United in its last three matches.
Therefore its survival could be dependent on the next two matches at home against Stoke and away to Bolton.
Here is the form for all the teams for the last six matches:
| Team | Recent Form |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | WWWDWW |
| Aston Villa | LLDDDW |
| Blackburn | DWLLWL |
| Bolton | DWLLDD |
| Chelsea | LWWDWW |
| Everton | LWDDLW |
| Fulham | WLWDWL |
| Hull City | LDLLLL |
| Liverpool | WWWDWW |
| Manchester City | LLWWWL |
| Manchester United | LWWWWW |
| Middlesbrough | LLWDLL |
| Newcastle | LLDLDL |
| Portsmouth | DDWLDL |
| Stoke City | WWDWLL |
| Sunderland | LLLWLL |
| Tottenham | WLWWLW |
| West Bromwich Albion | DLDLWL |
| West Ham | DWLDLW |
| Wigan | WWLLLD |
Liverpool and Arsenal have the best form at the moment dropping just two points in the last six matches.
Looking ahead to the next match the biggest match is undoubtedly the match between Newcastle and Middlesbrough.
Its a match both teams need to win and whoever loses will be in real danger of relegation with just two matches to go.
Birmingham secure promotion
Wolverhampton Wanderers had already won the Championship title a few rounds ago and Birmingham had to battle for the second automatic place with Sheffield United.
Premiership football will come back to St. Andrews Stadium after a two year absence and also next season will see the local derby between Birmingham and Aston Villa.
The final side to be promoted from the Championship will come through the playoffs.
The four teams involved in the playoffs are Sheffield United, Reading, Burnley and Preston.
Pompey frustrates Newcastle
That single point meant that the Magpies moved to third from bottom on goal difference above near neighbours Middlesborough.
The last two home matches for Newcastle are against Middlesbrough and Fulham and the Boro match could be the deciding one because both teams desperately need points.
The last two away matches for the Magpies are against Liverpool and Aston Villa.
Still talking about relegation, West Bromwich Albion got a rare win against Sunderland to be three points behind Middlesbrough.
At the top, Manchester United's comeback win against Tottenham made sure they maintained their three point gap at the top of the ladder with one game in hand.
All the top four teams won.
Everton's loss to Manchester City at home means it now trails Aston Villa by two points.
Villa could only manage a draw at the Reebok Stadium but that draw will given them some breathing space in their effort to secure fifth place.
Following Newcastle's draw against Pompey, Newcastle has the highest number of draws at the moment and below we take a look at the draws ladder:
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle | 34 | 14 | 13 |
| Arsenal | 34 | 14 | 11 |
| Everton | 34 | 11 | 11 |
| Fulham | 34 | 4 | 11 |
| Liverpool | 34 | 10 | 11 |
| Portsmouth | 34 | 10 | 11 |
| Aston Villa | 34 | 9 | 10 |
| Blackburn | 34 | 9 | 10 |
| Hull City | 34 | 13 | 10 |
| Middlesbrough | 34 | 6 | 10 |
| Stoke City | 34 | 8 | 9 |
| West Ham | 34 | 6 | 9 |
| Chelsea | 34 | 5 | 8 |
| Sunderland | 34 | 5 | 8 |
| Tottenham | 34 | 7 | 8 |
| Wigan | 33 | 4 | 8 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 34 | 8 | 7 |
| Bolton | 34 | 4 | 5 |
| Manchester City | 34 | 8 | 5 |
| Manchester United | 33 | 3 | 5 |
Three teams have so far just five draws and these are Manchester United, Manchester City and Bolton.
Gunners dent Liverpool title hopes
The draw sees Liverpool go top of the ladder courtesy of a superior goal difference over Manchester United who now have two games in hand.
The 4-all draw was the second 4-all draw this season and the seventh league draw at Anfield where Liverpool are still to lose.
Also it was the second 4-all draw for Liverpool who drew 4-all last week against Chelsea in the Champions League.
In the matches played on Saturday, no team managed to score more than one goal with the match having the most goals being the one-all draw between Aston Villa and West Ham.
Manchester City's 4-2 win over West Bromwich Albion was the first time a team had scored more than one goal in round 33 of the English Premier League but then there were goals galore at Anfield.
There are still two more matches to be played in this round with Chelsea playing Everton and Manchester United hosting Portsmouth.
A draw or a win for Man U will the see them go top of the ladder.
Wolves gets promotion
Wolves still have two matches to play but second placed local rivals Birmingham City are six points behind with an inferior of goal difference and therefore chances are high that Wolves will be champions as well.
Wolves last got promotion into the premiership in the 2002/3 season after winning the play-off final at Cardiff against Sheffield United and they finished bottom at the end of the 2003/4 season.
They must be hoping for a better finish in the 2009/10 premiership season.
Villa, Everton share spoils
Villa and Everton have to fight out for a Europa Cup place with the nearest challenger West Ham eight points adrift of Everton on 44 points.
This was the first time this year that a match has finished finished 3-all. Last season two matches finished with that scoreline.
All the top four teams won their matches with both Arsenal and Liverpool scoring four goals winning 4-1 and 4-nil respectively.
Manchester United and Chelsea could only afford one goal margin wins.
Nothing changed in the relegation zone West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle were able to pick up vital away points in their drawn matches.
Middlesbrough managed to get three precious points in their match against Hull.
This week we take a look at the scorelines involved in drawn matches.
| score | count( score ) |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 34 |
| 1 - 1 | 30 |
| 2 - 2 | 18 |
| 3 - 3 | 1 |
| 4 - 4 | 1 |
So the goalless draw is still the most popular drawn scoreline.
Shearer starts with defeat
One home match is gone and there are three more to go but the next match will see Shearer take his charges to Stoke which could be the only somehow easy away fixture of the four left.
At the top both Manchester United and Liverpool needed late goals to secure all three points.
It wasn't that easy for United for they had to come to from behind to score two goals in the last ten minutes of the round.
Aston Villa's loss means the winless run continues and its so surprising that a few weeks ago this was a team that looked like finishing second or third on the ladder.
Everton cemented its position in sixth place and will meet Villa in the next match in a straight fight for fifth place.
No change in the bottom as all three teams in the relegation zone lost their matches. West Brom now look very likely to be playing championship football next season.
This week we will look at the scorelines in the second half so far this season:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 72 |
| 0 - 1 | 41 |
| 0 - 2 | 17 |
| 0 - 3 | 8 |
| 0 - 4 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 67 |
| 1 - 1 | 27 |
| 1 - 2 | 13 |
| 1 - 3 | 3 |
| 2 - 0 | 30 |
| 2 - 1 | 15 |
| 2 - 2 | 3 |
| 2 - 3 | 1 |
| 3 - 0 | 6 |
| 3 - 2 | 1 |
| 3 - 3 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 2 |
| 4 - 2 | 1 |
Once again the goalless draw is the most popular in the second half of the premiership matches so far.
In second place is 1-nil followed by the reverse of that 0-1.
Newcastle turn to Shearer
After the loss to Arsenal in their last match before the international break, Newcastle slipped into the relegation zone.
The Magpies have 29 points and lead bottom team West Browmich Albion by five points and trail Blackburn who are in 17th place by just two points.
So Shearer will have 24 points to play for and try and save his former team from the drop.
The last four home matches for Newcastle are against Chelsea, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Fulham and the last four away matches are against Stoke City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa.
Good round for Liverpool
Not only did Liverpool win their match against Aston Villa 5-nil, both their rivals for the title Manchester United and Chelsea lost.
Liverpool has now scored 11 goals in the league in the last three matches and now have the best goal difference which could become handy on the last day.
Liverpool gained 7 goals over Man U and 6 over Chelsea in terms of goals after the teams lost 2-nil and 1-nil respectively.
Newcastle United joined the relegation zone following a 3-1 loss at home to Arsenal.
Arsenal are tightening their grip on fourth place after yet another loss for Villa.
Liverpool led 3-nil at half time and so this this week we take the scorelines at half time so far this season:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 116 |
| 0 - 1 | 41 |
| 0 - 2 | 14 |
| 0 - 3 | 1 |
| 1 - 0 | 51 |
| 1 - 1 | 30 |
| 1 - 2 | 6 |
| 1 - 3 | 3 |
| 2 - 0 | 19 |
| 2 - 1 | 6 |
| 2 - 2 | 2 |
| 3 - 0 | 8 |
| 3 - 1 | 1 |
| 4 - 0 | 1 |
Its not surprising that a goalless draw is the most popular score line going into half time.
Its interesting to see that only one team has trailed 3-nil at half time whilst in eight matches home teams have led 3-nil at half time.
The Gunners leapfrog Villa
Arsenal are in fourth place on goal difference as Villa's goal difference is less by seven goals.
But the biggest match of the weekend is undoubtedly the match at Old Trafford between Manchester United and Liverpool.
Liverpool won 4-1 to make sure that they are the only team still unbeaten at home in the league.
Before this match Manchester United had not lost at home this season.
The win also benefitted Chelsea who retained second place after beating Manchester City by an odd goal.
Only Spurs managed to get maximum points from the teams in the bottom half of the ladder.
West Bromwich Albion is still to play West Ham United on Monday to complete the round.
Following Man U's 4-1 loss to Liverpool lets take a look at every scoreline so far this season and see how many times that has occurred:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 32 |
| 0 - 1 | 25 |
| 0 - 2 | 10 |
| 0 - 3 | 6 |
| 0 - 4 | 2 |
| 0 - 5 | 3 |
| 1 - 0 | 27 |
| 1 - 1 | 27 |
| 1 - 2 | 21 |
| 1 - 3 | 9 |
| 1 - 4 | 4 |
| 1 - 5 | 1 |
| 2 - 0 | 24 |
| 2 - 1 | 32 |
| 2 - 2 | 17 |
| 2 - 3 | 6 |
| 3 - 0 | 15 |
| 3 - 1 | 7 |
| 3 - 2 | 6 |
| 4 - 0 | 5 |
| 4 - 1 | 1 |
| 4 - 2 | 2 |
| 4 - 3 | 1 |
| 4 - 4 | 1 |
| 5 - 0 | 2 |
| 5 - 1 | 1 |
| 6 - 0 | 1 |
And so it was the fourth time this season when an away team has 4-1. Interestingly there has been only one match ending 4-1 in favour of the home team.
Tied for the most popular scoreline is 0-0 and 2-1 and a total of 64 matches have ended with these two results.
Its also a tie for the second most popular with 1-1 and 1-0 sharing that.
City spoil Villa's Champions League hopes
The only draw occurred in the goalless draw between Everton and Blackburn.
Whilst the draw was probably good for Blackburn who are now beginning to pick up points at this important part of the season, it wasn't not so good for Everton who now trail fifth placed Arsenal by four points.
Villa's loss to City means that Villa now trails Liverpool and Chelsea by six points after both teams won their matches against Sunderland and Portsmouth respectively.
Stoke’s win saw the Midlands team out of the relegation zone but Portsmouth and Newcastle are sitting above it and could be in it depending on other results in round 29.
There were four home wins and five away wins. This is only the fifth time this season when there have been five or more away wins in a round.
The highest number of away wins so far this season is six and this happened twice in rounds 6 and 12.
So after round 28 we will take a look at ladder that only looks at the away matches:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 14 | 17 | 32 |
| Aston Villa | 14 | 8 | 30 |
| Liverpool | 14 | 11 | 28 |
| Manchester United | 14 | 11 | 28 |
| Everton | 14 | 4 | 25 |
| Arsenal | 14 | 8 | 23 |
| Hull City | 14 | -2 | 20 |
| West Ham | 14 | -2 | 17 |
| Sunderland | 14 | -8 | 14 |
| Wigan | 14 | -1 | 13 |
| Blackburn | 13 | -7 | 13 |
| Bolton | 14 | -9 | 13 |
| Tottenham | 13 | -6 | 11 |
| Portsmouth | 13 | -11 | 11 |
| Newcastle | 14 | -9 | 10 |
| Manchester City | 14 | -9 | 8 |
| Middlesbrough | 14 | -17 | 8 |
| Fulham | 14 | -10 | 7 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 14 | -21 | 5 |
| Stoke City | 14 | -21 | 4 |
So Chelsea top this ladder after their early season away form but Villa are close by.
If Villa had won their match against City then they would have been top of this particular table.
Blackburn, Middlesbrough win
Blackburn won away to Hull City who continue to fall down the ladder whilst Middlesbrough won its match against Liverpool.
Middlesbrough's win meant that Liverpool slipped to third place on the ladder and in second place now is Chelsea.
In the two weeks Guus Hiddink has been at Stamford Bridge he has seen his team move from fourth to second on the ladder. Chelsea and Liverpool both trail Manchester United who did not play because of the Carling Cup by seven points.
Aston Villa failed to move further away from fifth placed Arsenal after drawing at home against Stoke City. Arsenal were involved in yet another goalless draw at home against Fulham.
Villa still lead the Gunners by six points but now trail Liverpool by three points.
Everton reduced the gap between itself and Arsenal to just two points after a win against cellar dwellars West Bromwich Albion.
This week we take a look at all the team's last six matches and this is shown in the table below:
| Team | Recent Form |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | WDDDDD |
| Aston Villa | WWDWLD |
| Blackburn | WDDLLW |
| Bolton | DDWLWW |
| Chelsea | WWLDWW |
| Everton | DDLWDW |
| Fulham | LWDLWD |
| Hull City | LLDDLL |
| Liverpool | DDWWDL |
| Manchester City | WLWLDL |
| Manchester United | WWWWWW |
| Middlesbrough | LLDLDW |
| Newcastle | LLDWDL |
| Portsmouth | DLLLWD |
| Stoke City | LLWLDD |
| Sunderland | DLWDWD |
| Tottenham | LDWLDW |
| West Bromwich Albion | WLDLLL |
| West Ham | WWDLLW |
| Wigan | LDDDDL |
A quick glance shows that whilst Arsenal has not lost a match in the last six matches, it has only managed to win just one match.
On the other hand, Man Utd is the only to have won its last six matches.
Hull and Wigan are the only teams without a win in the last six matches.
Man Utd open seven point gap
This was Liverpool's sixth draw at home and tenth overall and now Liverpool and Newcastle United are the first teams to reach double figures insofar as draws are concerned.
Chelsea moved to third place after beating Aston Villa at Villa Park in what was a direct exchange of ladder positions.
But Arsenal failed to capitalize on Villa's loss as the Gunners could only get a goalless draw at the Emirates against Sunderland.
Now the Gunners trail Villa by four points with Everton four points back.
Everton could have narrowed the gap to two points but the Toffees were held to a goalless draw at St. James Park.
Elsewhere West Bromwich Albion still prop the ladder with Middlesbrough and Blackburn just a point above them but still in the relegation zone.
Blackburn has a game in hand away to Fulham.
In the last post on the English Premier we took a look at the first half ladder and this time we take a look at the second half ladder. This ladder considers only the result in the second half and is shown below:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 26 | 16 | 49 |
| Manchester United | 26 | 18 | 48 |
| Chelsea | 26 | 13 | 47 |
| Aston Villa | 26 | 12 | 45 |
| Everton | 26 | 3 | 42 |
| Arsenal | 26 | 8 | 40 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 26 | -5 | 38 |
| Newcastle | 26 | 0 | 37 |
| Wigan | 26 | 1 | 36 |
| Manchester City | 26 | 3 | 35 |
| Stoke City | 26 | -3 | 35 |
| Sunderland | 26 | -1 | 33 |
| Portsmouth | 26 | -6 | 31 |
| Hull City | 26 | -7 | 30 |
| Tottenham | 26 | -3 | 27 |
| Fulham | 25 | -3 | 26 |
| West Ham | 26 | -6 | 26 |
| Middlesbrough | 26 | -16 | 22 |
| Bolton | 26 | -13 | 20 |
| Blackburn | 25 | -11 | 19 |
So Liverpool top this ladder ahead of Manchester United.
Surprisingly using just the second half, West Brom jump to tenth place.
Scolari's Chelsea reign ends
This came after Chelsea slipped to fourth place in the league after the draw against Hull City at the weekend after having been second two weeks earlier.
With Arsenal in fifth place, Chelsea looks more like a team fighting for fourth place and a champions league place instead of being a team fighting for the title.
So here is a quick summary of Scolari's record in the league:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Matches | 25 |
| Won | 14 |
| Drawn | 7 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Away wins | 8 |
| Home wins | 6 |
| Goals scored | 44 |
| Goals conceded | 15 |
| Home goals scored | 21 |
| Away goals scored | 23 |
Scolari's results are not that bad and with a bit of luck could have been better.
Chelsea's problem so far has been the home form where they have got 23 points out of a possible 39.
Compare that with current leaders Manchester United who have played 11 games at home but have 31 points dropping just two points.
But recently the away form has been great and Aston Villa and Liverpool now have a better away record than Chelsea.
Portsmouth sack Adams
Adams took over from Harry Rednapp who left to join Tottenham Hotspurs.
His team only managed to win one match at home against Blackburn Rovers and also won one match away against Sunderland.
Below is the summary for the 13 Premier League matches Adams was in charge:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Matches | 13 |
| Won | 2 |
| Drawn | 5 |
| Lost | 6 |
| Away wins | 1 |
| Home wins | 1 |
| Goals scored | 16 |
| Goals conceded | 28 |
| Home goals scored | 10 |
| Away goals scored | 6 |
Chelsea slips to fourth
That was Chelsea's fifth draw at Stamford Bridge and in just two rounds the team has slipped from second position to fourth.
The battle for fourth place can easily be a battle between Chelsea and Arsenal but there are still 13 matches to go.
Aston Villa's win over relegation threatened Blackburn made sure the midlands outfit opened a two point gap in third place. Villa trail Liverpool in third place by three points.
Manchester United maintained its grip at the top after narrowly beating West Ham United. That match was United's 13th-straight clean sheet in the league.
Once again all the teams in the relegation zone failed to win and in fact the bottom five teams all lost.
Out of the ten matches in round 25, goals were scored in the first half in only three matches with the other seven matches going to half time goalless.
In the match between Liverpool and Portsmouth all the five goals were scored in the second half and this week we take a look at the first half ladder.
This ladder only looks at the scores at half time and is presented below:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester United | 24 | 15 | 47 |
| Chelsea | 25 | 16 | 44 |
| Liverpool | 25 | 9 | 40 |
| Fulham | 23 | 7 | 38 |
| West Ham | 25 | 6 | 38 |
| Aston Villa | 25 | 4 | 37 |
| Arsenal | 25 | 5 | 36 |
| Manchester City | 24 | 5 | 33 |
| Wigan | 25 | 1 | 33 |
| Everton | 25 | 3 | 32 |
| Bolton | 25 | 2 | 30 |
| Middlesbrough | 25 | -2 | 28 |
| Sunderland | 25 | -5 | 27 |
| Blackburn | 24 | -3 | 26 |
| Hull City | 25 | -9 | 26 |
| Tottenham | 25 | -1 | 25 |
| Portsmouth | 24 | -8 | 22 |
| Stoke City | 25 | -16 | 22 |
| Newcastle | 25 | -9 | 20 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 25 | -20 | 17 |
So Manchester United also tops the first half ladder and West Bromwich Albion prop the ladder.
Interestingly Fulham seem to be playing well in the first half and therefore they are in fourth place despite being tenth in the actual ladder.
Next week we look at the second half ladder.
Liverpool beats Chelsea to regain second place
Manchester United won its match against Everton but it has also has a game in hand against Fulham.
That is a home game against a team that hasn't won away from Craven Cottage so far.
There was no difference in the gap between Arsenal and Aston Villa as both teams were held at home to goalless draws against West Ham and Wigan respectively.
Despite the loss at Old Trafford, Everton is still in sixth place but its five point cushion has now been reduced to four.
This was the second round so far this season where no away team won a single match. Five matches were all won by home teams.
It is also the second time when there has been five draws in a round. Five draws in a single round is the highest so far.
At the bottom of the table Stoke City moved out of the relegation zone after the win over Manchester City and was replaced in the relegation waters by Blackburn.
Below is a table showing the draw scored and frequency so far:
| Scoreline | Frequency | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 - 0 | 24 | ||||||||||||
| 1 - 1 | 23 | ||||||||||||
| 2 - 2 | 15 | ||||||||||||
| 3 - 3 | 0 | ||||||||||||
| 4 - 4 | 1 | ||||||||||||
| 5 - 5 | 0 |
So the goalless draw has now become the most popular draw scoreline followed by 1-all.
There has one drawn match at 4-all and that was between Tottenham Hotspurs and Arsenal and the two teams meet again in round 25 in what should be match of the round.
Liverpool slips to third after draw
The draw against Wigan was Liverpool's ninth draw of the season and with that draw Liverpool has the highest number of draws in the league at the moment.
One statistic going for Liverpool is that it is the only team to have lost just once in the league and that loss was away to Tottenham Hotspurs but it is the draws that has made the Anfield outfit now slip to third in the premiership.
Below is the table showing the number of draws for each team so far after 23 rounds.
| Team | Played | Goals For | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | 23 | 5 | 9 |
| Fulham | 21 | 4 | 8 |
| Newcastle | 23 | 11 | 8 |
| Blackburn | 22 | 8 | 7 |
| Everton | 23 | 8 | 7 |
| Arsenal | 23 | 10 | 6 |
| Chelsea | 23 | 5 | 6 |
| Hull City | 23 | 10 | 6 |
| Middlesbrough | 23 | 5 | 6 |
| Portsmouth | 22 | 5 | 6 |
| Stoke City | 23 | 3 | 6 |
| Tottenham | 23 | 6 | 6 |
| Aston Villa | 23 | 2 | 5 |
| Manchester United | 22 | 3 | 5 |
| Sunderland | 23 | 3 | 5 |
| West Ham | 23 | 4 | 5 |
| Wigan | 23 | 4 | 5 |
| Manchester City | 22 | 7 | 4 |
| Bolton | 23 | 2 | 3 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 23 | 3 | 3 |
The next match for Liverpool will be at home against Chelsea which will be a fight for second place.
Hull lost again and at this moment the only team to have collected no points in the last six matches. Hull lost to West Ham who climbed to eighth position on the table and next face Arsenal.
There was no change in the teams in the relegation zone with the bottom three teams all losing.
West Bromwich Albion suffered their worst loss of the season losing 5-nil to Manchester United and its a result that promotes United's goal difference but with an equally negative effect on the Baggies.
The difference in points between the bottom team and the team in tenth position is sixth points.
Congestion at the bottom
Fulham in tenth position has 26 points whilst West Bromwich Albion in last position has 21 points.
It's not only that the Baggies are currently bottom with 21 points but there are four other teams on that same number of points and the teams are only separated by goal difference.
So at the moment it is statistically possible for a team at the bottom of the ladder to move to tenth position just after two wins.
So maybe we can look at an upside down table and get the get the bottom teams to the top as shown in table below:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Bromwich Albion | 22 | -17 | 21 |
| Stoke City | 22 | -16 | 21 |
| Middlesbrough | 22 | -15 | 21 |
| Blackburn | 21 | -11 | 21 |
| Tottenham | 22 | -6 | 21 |
| Sunderland | 22 | -9 | 23 |
| Newcastle | 22 | -9 | 23 |
| Bolton | 22 | -8 | 23 |
| Portsmouth | 21 | -12 | 24 |
| Manchester City | 21 | 9 | 25 |
| Fulham | 20 | 2 | 26 |
| Hull City | 22 | -13 | 27 |
| West Ham | 22 | -2 | 29 |
| Wigan | 22 | 2 | 31 |
| Everton | 22 | 4 | 36 |
| Arsenal | 22 | 13 | 41 |
| Aston Villa | 22 | 13 | 44 |
| Chelsea | 22 | 29 | 45 |
| Liverpool | 22 | 22 | 47 |
| Manchester United | 21 | 24 | 47 |
Round 22 also saw Manchester United take top spot from Liverpool after the Anfield team could only get a draw against rivals Everton.
That draw was Liverpool's eighth of the season and Liverpool joins Fulham and Newcastle United in having drawn eight times this season.
Five of those draws were at home whereas for Fulham and Newcastle they have had three and four respectively.
The only other team to have five draws at home so far is Aston Villa and interestingly those are Villa's only draws.
Liverpool stutter as Man U shines
Liverpool's draw away to Stoke meant that Manchester United closed the points gap by two points after a win against currently second placed Chelsea.
Manchester United's win was crucial especially with two games in hand and should the Old Trafford side win the two matches in hand then they would be top of the ladder.
Liverpool's draw was the sixth and Liverpool is now the team with second highest number of draws in the league.
The draw was good enough to pull Stoke out of the relegation zone where it was replaced by Tottenham Hotspurs.
After a bright start when Harry Redknapp arrived, Spurs have looked very shacky lately losing to teams lower in the lower half of the table and its not surprising they are back in the relegation zone.
The table below shows the results for the last six matches and the worst performer has to be Middlesbrough after collecting two points from the last six matches:
| Team | Recent Form |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | WDDDWW |
| Aston Villa | WWWDWW |
| Blackburn | LLLWDD |
| Bolton | LLWLLL |
| Chelsea | WDDWDL |
| Everton | LWDWWW |
| Fulham | DDDWDD |
| Hull City | WDLLLL |
| Liverpool | WDDWWD |
| Manchester City | LDLLWD |
| Manchester United | WWDWWW |
| Middlesbrough | LDLLLD |
| Newcastle | DWWLLD |
| Portsmouth | WDLLLL |
| Stoke City | DDLLLD |
| Sunderland | LWWDLD |
| Tottenham | WDLDLL |
| West Bromwich Albion | DLWLWL |
| West Ham | LDLWWD |
| Wigan | WLWWWW |
Aston Villa maintained fourth place after beating local rivals West Bromwich Albion but Arsenal's home win against
Bolton meant that the gap between fourth and fifth remained three points.
Elsewhere Hull's slide dowm the ladder continued with a 2-nil away loss to Everton. Everton are themselves are
sitting comfortably in fifth place and now have a four point cushion.
Everton next play Liverpool away and a result in that match will be very important as they get a place in Europe next season.
Liverpool increase lead at the top
It was Chelsea's second successive away draw after drawing Everton in the last away match and the four points lost could prove crucial in May.
Manchester United's win over Middlesborough means the Old Trafford outfit maintained their third place but they have two games in hand against Wigan and Fulham.
Aston Villa's win over Hull City kept them in fourth place and Hull are beginning to slip having been third at one stage in the season. Hull now lie eighth.
There were no changes in the bottom three but West Bromwich Albion is now tied with Blackburn Rovers on 18 points and are last on goal difference.
Its interesting to see that the bottom ten sides are separated by just five points.
After looking at the away ladder after round 18, this time we take a look at the home ladder.
Below is the home ladder - showing only the home matches so far this season:
| Team | Win | Draw | Lost | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man Utd | 7 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 22 |
| Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 22 |
| Fulham | 6 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 21 |
| Arsenal | 6 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 20 |
| Aston Villa | 4 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 17 |
| Stoke | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 17 |
| Wigan | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 17 |
| Chelsea | 4 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 16 |
| Man City | 5 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 15 |
| Newcastle | 4 | 3 | 3 | -1 | 15 |
| Portsmouth | 4 | 2 | 4 | -3 | 14 |
| West Brom | 4 | 2 | 4 | -3 | 14 |
| West Ham | 4 | 1 | 5 | -2 | 13 |
| Tottenham | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 12 |
| Middlesbrough | 3 | 3 | 4 | -5 | 12 |
| Sunderland | 3 | 2 | 5 | -2 | 11 |
| Bolton | 3 | 2 | 5 | -3 | 11 |
| Hull | 3 | 2 | 5 | -10 | 11 |
| Everton | 2 | 4 | 4 | -3 | 10 |
| Blackburn | 2 | 3 | 5 | -7 | 9 |
So at the moment Manchester United has the best home record but are top over Liverpool on goal difference.
Also Man Utd have two home matches in hand and I think the most telling statistic is that there has been just one draw at Old Trafford compared to four at Anfiled.
Fulham have an impressive home record with the same number of wins as Liverpool and Arsenal. Only if Fulham could translate that home form to away matches.
On the other end of the table, Blackburn have the worst home record having picked just nine points at home and a few more wins at home could see them climb the ladder.
Villa maintain fourth place
Villa had to avoid defeat in order to hold on to fourth and they did that the hard way coming from 2-nil down to snatch a draw in injury time.
This was Villa's first scoring draw after having four goalless draws before this match. Interestingly, all Villa's five draws have been at home.
The only team now left with no scoring draws is Bolton Wanderers. Bolton has had two goalless draws so far this season and like Villa both these draws have been at home.
Manchester City's big win over Hull City meant they left the relegation zone.
Stoke took its place after the narrow loss to Manchester United but there are three teams currently on 20 points and so it could be a temporary stay for Stoke.
Stoke's next match is away to West Ham.
Man City in relegation zone
So far City's season has been marked with inconsistency and they now go into the busy Christmas period trying to get themselves out of the relegation zone.
All the teams that were in the relegation zone at the start of the round won with Blackburn Rovers beating Stoke City at home and Sunderland overcoming Hull City away.
West Brom won but they still prop the ladder and therefore go into the Boxing day fixture bottom on the ladder.
At the top for the second successive round only Aston Villa of the top six placed teams managed to secure all three points.
The match of the round between Arsenal and Liverpool was drawn and Liverpool maintained its top position after Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Everton at Goodison Park.
Its the first time for Chelsea to drop points away from the Bridge.
Manchester United's match against Wigan was postponed because they were involved in the FIFA World Club Cup in Japan where they won the tournament.
Below is the away ladder - showing only the away matches so far this season:
| Team | Win | Draw | GF | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 8 | 1 | 20 | 25 |
| Liverpool | 6 | 2 | 8 | 20 |
| Everton | 6 | 1 | 4 | 19 |
| Aston Villa | 6 | 0 | 5 | 18 |
| Hull | 4 | 4 | 5 | 16 |
| Arsenal | 4 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| Man Utd | 3 | 4 | 2 | 13 |
| Portsmouth | 3 | 4 | -8 | 13 |
| Sunderland | 3 | 2 | -3 | 11 |
| West Ham | 2 | 3 | -5 | 9 |
| Wigan | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| Tottenham | 2 | 2 | -3 | 8 |
| Middlesbrough | 2 | 2 | -6 | 8 |
| Blackburn | 2 | 2 | -7 | 8 |
| Newcastle | 1 | 4 | -4 | 7 |
| Man City | 1 | 3 | -5 | 6 |
| Fulham | 0 | 4 | -4 | 4 |
| West Brom | 1 | 1 | -14 | 4 |
| Stoke | 0 | 3 | -15 | 3 |
So Stoke and Fulham are the only teams still to taste an away victory but there are also three teams in Newcastle, Man City and West Brom who have won just once away from home.
Liverpool, Chelsea struggle at home
Two weeks ago Liverpool played West Ham when Chelsea had already drawn against Newcastle and that goalless draw at Anfield meant that Liverpool could not increase its lead at the top.
In this round it was Chelsea who played knowing that Liverpool had already drawn and they failed to win interestingly also against West Ham and therefore stayed a point behind.
Of the top six teams on the ladder only Aston Villa managed to get a win with the other five all drawing.
Villa's win meant that they leapfrogged the Gunners into fourth and with the Gunners playing Liverpool next they could keep that spot for a while.
But it is consistency that has become elusive for the top teams and I think whichever team can be consistent over a number of matches it can create a healthy lead which will be handy come May next year.
The table shows Liverpool's results at home:
| Saturday, 13th December 2008 3:00pm | ||||
| Liverpool | Hull City | |||
| Saturday, 6th December 2008 3:00pm | ||||
| Liverpool | West Ham | |||
| Saturday, 22nd November 2008 3:00pm | ||||
| Liverpool | Fulham | |||
| Saturday, 15th November 2008 12:45pm | ||||
| Liverpool | West Bromwich Albion | |||
| Saturday, 1st November 2008 5:30pm | ||||
| Liverpool | Portsmouth | |||
| Sunday, 26th October 2008 1:30pm | ||||
| Liverpool | Wigan | |||
| Sunday, 5th October 2008 2:00pm | ||||
| Liverpool | Stoke City | |||
| Saturday, 13th September 2008 11:45am | ||||
| Liverpool | Manchester United | |||
| Sunday, 31st August 2008 3:00pm | ||||
| Liverpool | Middlesbrough | |||
The three goalless draws stand out and three points in three matches is equivalent to losing two and winning one.
The table shows Chelsea's results at home:
| Sunday, 14th December 2008 4:00pm | ||||
| Chelsea | West Ham | |||
| Saturday, 6th December 2008 3:00pm | ||||
| Chelsea | Arsenal | |||
| Saturday, 22nd November 2008 3:00pm | ||||
| Chelsea | Newcastle | |||
| Saturday, 15th November 2008 5:30pm | ||||
| Chelsea | Sunderland | |||
| Wednesday, 29th October 2008 7:45pm | ||||
| Chelsea | Liverpool | |||
| Saturday, 18th October 2008 11:45am | ||||
| Chelsea | Aston Villa | |||
| Saturday, 27th September 2008 2:00pm | ||||
| Chelsea | Manchester United | |||
| Saturday, 13th September 2008 4:30pm | ||||
| Chelsea | Tottenham | |||
| Sunday, 24th August 2008 12:30pm | ||||
| Chelsea | Portsmouth | |||
Whilst Liverpool hasn't lost at home yet, Chelsea has actually lost two matches at home.
It could be the home form that could decide who wins the championship.
Top six back to winning ways
Manchester United and Aston Villa needed injury time goals to secure all three points whilst Arsenal and Chelsea settled their matters early in the first half.
Liverpool's win over Blackburn means that the Anfield outfit maintained top position and Hull's comeback win over Middlesborough means their chase for a European place next season is alive and well.
At the bottom, of the teams in the relegation zone only West Bromwich Albion managed to get something out from the weekend matches.
Blackburn lost to Liverpool while for Sunderland it was a heart-breaking loss as they lost at Old Trafford to an injury time goal scored with seconds left on the clock.
A quick look at the recent form for all the teams shows that no team at the moment has won the last six matches:
| Team | Recent Form |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | LWLLWW |
| Aston Villa | LLWDDW |
| Blackburn | DLLLLL |
| Bolton | WWLWWL |
| Chelsea | WWWDLW |
| Everton | WWDLWL |
| Fulham | LWWDDD |
| Hull City | LLDDDW |
| Liverpool | LWWDDW |
| Manchester City | LLDWLD |
| Manchester United | WLWDWW |
| Middlesbrough | DWDLDL |
| Newcastle | WLDDDD |
| Portsmouth | LWDDWD |
| Stoke City | WDLWDD |
| Sunderland | LLWLLL |
| Tottenham | WWLWLW |
| West Bromwich Albion | DLLLLD |
| West Ham | DLDWDL |
| Wigan | WDDWWL |
Not surprisingly the worst record belongs to the teams lying in the relegation zone.
In the coming round its going to be interesting to see what happens between the Black Cats and the Baggies.
Another interesting match will see Spurs face Manchester United and that will be a good test for Harry Redknapp's team.
Keane leaves Sunderland
Sunderland under Keane had a very successful 2006/7 season when they got promotion to the Premier League from the Championship.
In their first year in the premiership with Keane they just survived after finishing just three points above the relegation zone.
After 15 rounds the Black Cats lie in the relegation zone with 15 points but it should be noted that a few wins in the next few matches could easily lift them to the middle of the table.
On 15 points are Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspurs and there are three more teams within three points reach of Sunderland.
Sunderland at this moment is one of four teams to have a poorer home record compared to the away one. They have lost five games at home compared to three away.
The other three teams to have better away records at the moment are Chelsea, Hull and Everton.
Losing home games can really put pressure on managers and players alike but Sunderland's position is nowhere nearer as bad as Spurs' one was when Juande Ramos left.
Below is a few stats for Keane's Sunderland in the Premiership from August 2007 to November 2008 in 53 matches:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Won | 15 |
| Drawn | 10 |
| Lost | 44 |
| Away wins | 4 |
| Home wins | 11 |
| Goals scored | 49 |
| Goals conceded | 75 |
| Home goals scored | 30 |
| Away goals scored | 19 |
So Keane's Sunderland nearly averaged a goal a match with sixty percent of the goals scored at the Stadium of Light.
The team also managed to win just under thirty percent of the league matches it played and that was also nearly the average so far this season.
Liverpool in another stalemate at home
Last week Liverpool were held goalless by Fulham and the other team to go with one point from Anfield after holding Liverpool at bay was Stoke City.
The single point was good enough to see the Anfield outfit top the ladder after Chelsea lost to Arsenal for their second home defeat this season.
Liverpool was not the only team to have successive goalless draws because they were joined by Newcastle, Fulham and Aston Villa who also managed to keep clean sheets for two consecutive weeks but without troubling the opposition as well.
Villa's draw with Fulham meant they lost fourth position to Arsenal who are back on track after trailing at half time at Stamford Bridge but then scoring two quick second half goals.
Maybe at this point we can take a look at the draw scores so far this season.
The table below shows the draw score and the frequency of that score:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0-0 | 15 |
| 1-1 | 12 |
| 2-2 | 7 |
| 3-3 | 0 |
| 4-4 | 1 |
| 5-5 | 0 |
Its not surprising to see that the 0-0 scoreline has now overtaken the 1-1 scoreline which was leading at the end of October.
But there has also been a slight increase in the number of 2-all draws
Looking at the relegation zone, the three teams in there have one thing in common: they have all lost five of their last six matches.
Blackburn and West Bromwich Albion have actually failed to get a win in their last six matches and they plus Hull City are the
only three teams to have done so.
Stalemate at the top in the Premiership
Liverpool and Chelsea were both held to goalless draws at home by Fulham and Newcastle respectively and both lost a chance to claim top spot outright.
After beating Arsenal in the last round, Aston Villa held Manchester United to a goalless draw at home but that was enough for them to climb into fourth position after Arsenal suffered a second consecutive defeat in their match against Manchester City.
So all the top five teams failed to score a single goal but for Arsenal it was worse because their opponents at Eastlands scored three goals and thus a rare consecutive loss in the premiership.
Round 14 was the fourth round this season when there has been four draws and so far four is the highest number of draws in a round. However, this round was different from the others in that three of them were goalless draws.
At the bottom, West Bromwich Albion loss to Stoke means they still the anchor the ladder and just above them is Blackburn and then Newcastle.
Sunderland and Tottenham are just a point above the relegation zone and so still in dangerous territory.
Last week we looked at the first half table compared with the real table and so this week we will look at the second half table compared with the real ladder.
So here is the second half table considering only the second half scoreline:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 14 | 14 | 30 |
| Liverpool | 14 | 7 | 28 |
| Newcastle | 14 | 4 | 23 |
| Hull City | 14 | 1 | 23 |
| Arsenal | 14 | 4 | 21 |
| Stoke City | 14 | -1 | 21 |
| Everton | 14 | -2 | 21 |
| Aston Villa | 14 | 5 | 20 |
| Manchester City | 14 | 4 | 20 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 14 | -5 | 19 |
| Portsmouth | 14 | -1 | 18 |
| Middlesbrough | 14 | -5 | 18 |
| Manchester United | 13 | 6 | 17 |
| Wigan | 14 | -2 | 17 |
| Tottenham | 14 | 0 | 16 |
| Sunderland | 14 | -3 | 16 |
| Bolton | 14 | -4 | 13 |
| Fulham | 13 | -3 | 12 |
| Blackburn | 14 | -9 | 10 |
| West Ham | 14 | -10 | 8 |
And now for the current league ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 14 | 28 | 33 |
| Liverpool | 14 | 13 | 33 |
| Manchester United | 13 | 15 | 25 |
| Aston Villa | 14 | 6 | 24 |
| Arsenal | 14 | 7 | 23 |
| Hull City | 14 | -2 | 22 |
| Everton | 14 | -3 | 19 |
| Portsmouth | 14 | -5 | 19 |
| Fulham | 13 | 1 | 18 |
| Middlesbrough | 14 | -6 | 18 |
| Manchester City | 14 | 7 | 17 |
| Bolton | 14 | -2 | 17 |
| West Ham | 14 | -5 | 17 |
| Stoke City | 14 | -10 | 17 |
| Wigan | 14 | -2 | 16 |
| Tottenham | 14 | -3 | 15 |
| Sunderland | 14 | -8 | 15 |
| Newcastle | 14 | -5 | 14 |
| Blackburn | 14 | -11 | 13 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 14 | -15 | 11 |
No change for the top two teams but thats where the similarities end with Newcastle surprising third which should suggest that their first half performance is not that great.
Looking ahead to round 15, the match of the round could easily be the match between Chelsea and Arsenal and a loss for the Gunners will mean the third consecutive premiership loss.
Liverpool face West Ham on Monday and if Chelsea should slip up then they will have a chance to take spot.
Hull, Man City share spoils
Over the last six matches Hull has picked up seven points whilst Man City has picked up five out of a possible 18.
This was the fourth draw of the round following draws in the matches involving West Ham/Portsmouth, Everton/Middlesbrough and Newcastle/Wigan.
I think the biggest result of the round was Aston Villa's away win over Arsenal. The Gunners came into the match after a win over Manchester United and the loss means they now move to fourth place and Manchester United move to third and they have a game in hand against Fulham.
Another interesting result was Tottenham's first loss since Harry Rednapp took over. Spurs lost 2-1 away to Fulham and they play Blackburn next.
After looking at the first half and second half goals over the last two rounds, this time we will look at the table considering just the first half results.
After round 14 we will look at the table that just considers the results in the second half.
So the first table is only for the first half and the table below that is the actual table for the full 90 minutes of play:
First half ladder:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 13 | 14 | 29 |
| Manchester United | 12 | 9 | 25 |
| Liverpool | 13 | 6 | 22 |
| West Ham | 13 | 4 | 21 |
| Fulham | 12 | 4 | 21 |
| Arsenal | 13 | 4 | 20 |
| Manchester City | 13 | 2 | 19 |
| Aston Villa | 13 | 1 | 19 |
| Wigan | 13 | 0 | 18 |
| Middlesbrough | 13 | 1 | 17 |
| Blackburn | 13 | -1 | 15 |
| Everton | 13 | -1 | 15 |
| Hull City | 13 | -2 | 15 |
| Bolton | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| Sunderland | 13 | -4 | 13 |
| Portsmouth | 13 | -5 | 13 |
| Tottenham | 13 | -4 | 10 |
| Stoke City | 13 | -9 | 10 |
| Newcastle | 13 | -9 | 8 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 13 | -10 | 7 |
This is the current table:
| Team | Played | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 13 | 28 | 32 |
| Liverpool | 13 | 13 | 32 |
| Manchester United | 12 | 15 | 24 |
| Arsenal | 13 | 10 | 23 |
| Aston Villa | 13 | 6 | 23 |
| Hull City | 13 | -2 | 21 |
| Everton | 13 | -2 | 19 |
| Middlesbrough | 13 | -4 | 18 |
| Portsmouth | 13 | -5 | 18 |
| Fulham | 12 | 1 | 17 |
| Sunderland | 13 | -7 | 15 |
| Manchester City | 13 | 4 | 14 |
| Bolton | 13 | -4 | 14 |
| West Ham | 13 | -6 | 14 |
| Stoke City | 13 | -11 | 14 |
| Wigan | 13 | -3 | 13 |
| Newcastle | 13 | -5 | 13 |
| Blackburn | 13 | -10 | 13 |
| Tottenham | 13 | -4 | 12 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 13 | -14 | 11 |
I think there is no real outstanding match in round 14 but maybe it will be interesting to see who comes top between Stoke and West Brom and also it will be interesting to see if Villa can beat Man U and go third at best and fourth at worst.
Baggies anchor the ladder as Spurs climb up
They are joined by Sunderland and Newcastle United in the relegation zone who have a point advantage but the good news is that the team in tenth position Fulham only has 14 points.
With Fulham in tenth position and on 14 points, the bottom 10 teams are separated by just three points. This means that a few wins can easily catapult a team up the ladder like as happened to Spurs but the Baggies next opponents are Chelsea.
Chelsea have a very good record away from home this season and are still to lose or draw away from Stamford Bridge.
They have scored more goals away from home, 16, compared to 13 at home and have conceded just one goal away compared to three at the Bridge.
So chances are high that the Baggies will still be anchoring the ladder after round 13 but with a bigger goal difference. Incidentally the Baggies have the biggest goal difference in the league at the moment.
After looking at the first half goals last week, this week we will look at the second half goals.
In round 12, Everton scored three second half goals but thats not the end of the story, the goals were scored in the last ten minutes of the match.
The table below just shows the second half goals for each team after round 12.
| Team | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 9 | 7 |
| Aston Villa | 6 | 6 |
| Blackburn | 2 | 4 |
| Bolton | 2 | 3 |
| Chelsea | 4 | 10 |
| Everton | 3 | 9 |
| Fulham | 3 | 1 |
| Hull City | 3 | 7 |
| Liverpool | 7 | 4 |
| Manchester City | 11 | 5 |
| Manchester United | 7 | 2 |
| Middlesbrough | 6 | 4 |
| Newcastle | 6 | 3 |
| Portsmouth | 6 | 3 |
| Stoke City | 7 | 3 |
| Sunderland | 4 | 2 |
| Tottenham | 5 | 5 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 5 | 2 |
| West Ham | 5 | 0 |
| Wigan | 1 | 5 |
Interestingly West Ham are still to score a second half goal away from home after 12 rounds.
Manchester City has scored the highest number of goals so far in the second half at home with 11 whilst not surprising Chelsea have scored the highest number away in the second half.
Liverpool suffer first loss
Liverpool entered the match as league and win would have extended their stay at the top but it was Spurs who bottom of the ladder who came from behind to claim all three points and move temporarily from the foot of the ladder.
Spurs have now accumulated seven points since Harry Redknapp was appointed manager and next face stuttering Manchester City.
Bolton and Newcastle wins meant that by the end of the round Spurs were back at the foot of the ladder.
Liverpool's loss means that every team in the premiership has now lost at least one match.
Another interesting result came from Old Trafford where Manchester United overcame high flying Hull City 4-3. Hull had a good run of results until they lost to Chelsea in round 10 but scoring three goals at Old Trafford goes on to show that they are easy pushovers.
Stoke City claimed their biggest win of the campaign so far when they bundled out Arsenal 2-1 and the Gunners needed a last minute goal to come with a respectable result.
Elsewhere free scoring Chelsea continued banging in the goals and like Middlesborough in round 8, Sunderland conceded five goals as Chelsea moved back to the top on goal difference.
Talking of goal difference, only six teams have a positive goal difference with West Bromwich Albion having the worst with -8. That could increase further as they next play at Anfield in round 12.
Looking ahead the biggest match of round 12 is arguably the match at Emirates Stadium as the Gunners host Manchester United. A loss for the Gunners here will see them drift further behind from the top 3 teams and could be overtaken by Aston Villa and Hull City.
So in this round Liverpool scored one goal in the first half and Chelsea scored three and the table below shows the number of goals scored by each time home and away in the first half only. In another post we will look at the second half goals only.
| Team | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|
| Arsenal | 4 | 4 |
| Aston Villa | 3 | 4 |
| Blackburn | 1 | 6 |
| Bolton | 4 | 2 |
| Chelsea | 9 | 5 |
| Everton | 3 | 3 |
| Fulham | 4 | 1 |
| Hull City | 2 | 5 |
| Liverpool | 2 | 4 |
| Manchester City | 4 | 3 |
| Manchester United | 6 | 5 |
| Middlesbrough | 1 | 1 |
| Newcastle | 3 | 3 |
| Portsmouth | 2 | 2 |
| Stoke City | 3 | 0 |
| Sunderland | 1 | 2 |
| Tottenham | 1 | 3 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 3 | 0 |
| West Ham | 6 | 5 |
| Wigan | 2 | 5 |
So Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion are still to score a first half goal away from home.
Gunners, Spurs in pulsating draw
Spurs were 4-2 down with just minutes to the end of the match but they managed to level the score to bring the highlight of round 10 in the premiership.
This was the first 4 all draw for this season and and in total there has been 20 draws out of a total of 99 matches.
Interestingly before this match Spurs had managed to score seven goals and in one match they increased their goals scored by just over 30%.
The table below shows the draw score and the frequency of that score:
| Scoreline | Frequency |
|---|---|
| 0-0 | 7 |
| 1-1 | 9 |
| 2-2 | 3 |
| 3-3 | 0 |
| 4-4 | 1 |
| 5-5 | 0 |
The most popular score for a draw so far this season is 1-1.
Elsewhere, for the first time Hull lost to a London club after losing three nil to Chelsea and Liverpool maintained top position with a 1-nil win over Portsmouth.
At the bottom of the ladder, Newcastle crawled out of the relegation zone after beating West Browmwich Albion 2-1 and joining Spurs in the drop zone are now Wigan and Bolton.
The standout fixture for round 11 is the match between top and bottom as Spurs host Liverpool at White Hart Lane.
Spurs win as Chelsea lose
Liverpool inflicted a rare home defeat on Chelsea and now they remain they only unbeaten side in the competition and add also top the ladder.
For Spurs it was their first win of the season and their first win in the league since a 1 nil win over Reading in early May.
Spurs last home win was against Portsmouth in March when they won by two goals to nil.
Another result that could have a bearing on the title is Manchester United's draw against Everton.
Hull City's winning run continued after beating fellow promoted side West Bromwich Albion 3 nil and their next match is a very interesting one as they face Chelsea at home.
Hull hasn't lost to a London side so far in the premier league.
They have beaten Arsenal, West Ham, Spurs, Fulham and now they face the remaining London based side they haven't played so far and so its going to be interesting to see if they can also beat Chelsea and overtake them on the ladder.
City snare point at St. James Park
On Saturday there were three draws and all finished goalless.
These were the matches between Aston Villa and Portsmouth, Fulham and Sunderland and Blackburn Rovers and Bolton Wanderers.
Manchester City have struggled since beating Portsmouth 6-nil and the round 8 point is the first one since that match.
On the other hand this is the second successive 2-all draw for Newcastle after drawing Everton in their last match.
Hull continued its hold over London clubs beating West Ham by an odd goal to stay third in the ladder.
Hull has beaten both Tottenham and Arsenal in its previous two matches.
Hull will need to start scoring more goals to match the goal differences of the teams around it on the ladder.
We can now take a look at every team's results in the last six matches in terms of winning(W), drawing(D) and losing(L):
| Team | Last six matches |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | WWWLDW |
| Aston Villa | DWWWLD |
| Blackburn | LLWWLD |
| Bolton | DLLLWD |
| Chelsea | DWDWWW |
| Everton | LWDLDL |
| Fulham | WWLLLD |
| Hull City | LWDWWW |
| Liverpool | DWDWWW |
| Manchester City | LLWLLD |
| Manchester United | WLDWWW |
| Middlesbrough | WLLLWL |
| Newcastle | LLLLDD |
| Portsmouth | WWLWWD |
| Stoke City | LLDLLW |
| Sunderland | LDWLDD |
| Tottenham | DLDLLL |
| West Bromwich Albion | DWLWWL |
| West Ham | WLWWLL |
| Wigan | WDDWLL |
So in the last six matches Liverpool and Chelsea have been the best performers and Spurs and Newcastle the worst.
Hull's march continues
This time Hull beat ladder propping Tottenham who are themselves winless following their win last week against Arsenal.
The next match for Hull will be at home and against another London side West Ham and if they win that match then they will maintain third spot on the ladder.
On the other hand Spurs next match is away against another promoted side Stoke City and after that it will another home match against Bolton Wanderers.
Manchester City's big win over Portsmouth seems after away now after the team failed to win against Wigan last week and then Liverpool this week.
After leading 2 nil at half time, Liverpool came back to score three goals in the second half including one in injury time.
A draw for Man City would have been its first draw of the season. Four other teams are still to draw a match this season and these are Fulham, Middlesbrough, West Ham and Portsmouth.
Hull shock Gunners as Chelsea go top
This was only the second loss for the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium. Their other loss at that stadium was against West Ham United.
Here are some other interesting stats from round 6:
- There were no draws
- No team scored more than two goals
- The majority of matches(six) were won by away teams
- The scoreline was either 2-0 or 2-1 with exception of Boro/West Brom match which finished 1-0
City in goalfest against Pompey
City scored more goals in one match than what teams like Manchester United, Liverpool, Sunderland, Tottenham, Newcastle, West Brom, Fulham and Portsmouth have scored so far this season.
Arsenal shot to the top of the ladder with an away win over Bolton in a round where there were only two away wins with the other one coming from Aston Villa's win over the Baggies.
Spurs remain winless after a goalless draw against Wigan at home but with four teams on four points and two on five, a few wins will see them leave the bottom of the ladder if other results go their way.
In round 6 one of the matches to look forward to is the Merseyside derby between Everton and Liverpool.
Last season Liverpool won both derbies and Everton who are ninth on the ladder at the moment will try and use home
advantage to reverse that trend this season.
Spurs still winless after four rounds
Spurs have managed to draw one match and interestingly they have scored a single goal in all their matches so far.
They have lost all three matches by the same scoreline of 2-1 and worryingly two of them at home where one would expect them to do better.
Talking about the 2-1 scoreline, in the 39 matches played so far, 12 matches have finished 2-1 or 1-2 and of these four were home defeats and two of them were for Spurs.
It is by far the most popular scoreline so far with the next popular being 1-0 or 0-1 and so far six matches have finished with this scoreline.
On the other end of the table only Chelsea and Liverpool remain unbeaten after the other unbeaten side Manchester United lost to Liverpool 2-1 at Anfield.
Chelsea next meet Manchester United at home in the fifth round and this is easily the match of the round.
A win for
Chelsea would mean that United will remain on four points but United has got a game in hand.
Spurs and Baggies off the mark
There was nothing spectacular from last weekend's round but probably the significant results of the weekend were Chelsea and Liverpool drawing for the first time this season and the Hull and Stoke City both losing.
It was Hull's first loss after an impressive start to the premiership and that loss means that only Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool remain unbeaten at this early stage of the season.
Manchester United's match against Fulham was postponed because of the Super Cup but if they were to team that match then they would be tied on the same points with Chelsea and Liverpool.
Also if Fulham were to win the match then it would be their second win against one the 'big four' teams.
There is an international break this weekend and when the premiership returns on the 13th of September the teams Liverpool and Manchester United will kick off that round.
EPL: Two rounds and two draws
In the first round Manchester United were held to a draw by Newcastle United and in the second round Hull maintained its unbeaten start to life in the premiership by securing a draw against Blackburn Rovers.
There were a total of 100 draws last season meaning an average of 2.6 draws per round. This year so far its just 10% average compared to last season's 26 percent but then again its only two rounds.
I think the number of draws will increase as the season goes on and teams settle for a draw rather than lose.
One draw to start with
Its very unusual for the first round to have so many teams winning because a lot of the teams tend to be cautious but this year was different with the only draw coming from Old Trafford.
The opening round last season produced two draws.
The biggest winners were Chelsea with their 4 nil win over Portsmouth.
Of the nine wins seven were home wins with two being away wins with only Blackburn and Liverpool managing to win away.
Its interesting to see what will happen in the second round this coming weekend.
The fixture to look out for is the one between Portsmouth and Manchester United who will be meeting for the third
time in less than a month.
Gunners, Baggies kickoff 2008/9 season
The fixture list was first was announced in June but this showed all fixtures at 3 pm local time for day matches and 7:45 pm for night matches but then the matches are then rescheduled to cater for television and other local security demands.
So the Gunners will kickoff the new season at the Emirates against the newly promoted Baggies.
The last match of the first round will see defending champions Manchester United take on Newcastle United on Sunday.
Newcastle lost heavily in the same fixture last season and they will be hoping for a better start this season.
The fixtures on TipsChallenge will be updated to reflect the changes over the coming few days.
EPL 2008/9 fixtures released
Of the three promoted sides only Hull will kick off the campaign at home when they face Fulham at KC Stadium. West Brom visit the Emirates whilst Stoke will be at the Reebok.
Defending champions Manchester United will start off at home against Kevin Keegan's Newcastle.
The TipsChallenge 2008/9 English premier league competition is now open for registrations and just like the A-League tipping competition there will be a host of new features for the 2008/9 season compared to last season.
Hull in top flight
West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City got direct promotion after taking first and second position respectively and Hull who finished third in the normal season had to go through the playoff route.
To TipsChallenge that will mean adding not only the Hull team but also their stadium the six year old KC Stadium.
Hull manager Phil Brown did well to save the team from relegation one season to premiership football in the next and now his next task will be to make sure that the team stays in the premiership.
West Brom, Stoke in top flight
The third side for promotion will come from the playoffs where Hull, Bristol City, Crystal Palace and Watford are involved.
West Brom won the Championship title with the highest number of wins (23) in the division and the highest number of goals scored (88) and the biggest goal difference of 33.
Stoke on the other hand had the lowest number of losses losing just four at home and five away. They will need that for the premiership.
These two teams will soon be added into TipsChallenge for the new season and hopefully we will see some of their fans on the Challenge league.
Villa on scoring spree
Three weeks ago Villa beat Bolton 4 nil and then a week later they beat already relegated Derby County 6 nil to make it ten goals in two matches.
This is very good streak to score 15 goals in three consecutive matches and no other team has managed to do that so far this season.
The next best three consecutive games tally was achieved by Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs who both scored 12.
Manchester United scored a total of 12 goals in three consecutive games in October.
In that streak Sir Alex Ferguson's team beat Wigan 4-0 and this was then followed by two 4-1 victories over Aston Villa and Middlesbrough.
Spurs also did the same in December when first they beat Fulham 5-1 followed by a 6-4 win over Reading and a 2-1 loss to Villa.
Next for Villa is Everton away and that doesn't look like a match were they will score four or more goals but Everton will have to be on their guard to avoid that and maintain fifth place.
Derby first to go down
The maximum points that Derby can now get if they win their last six matches is 29 which is below Birmingham City who currently have 30 points and are in fourth place.
Derby's last three home matches are against Arsenal, Aston Villa and Reading whilst their last three away matches are against West Ham, Blackburn and Everton.
At the moment Derby are the only the team in the premier league who have single digit in their away goals having scored just six goals and they have three matches to at least reach 10.
In total Derby has scored 16 goals and it will be interesting to see their finally tally at the end of the season.
Chelsea adds to high scoring matches
On the same night Portsmouth beat Birmingham 4-2 to record six goals.
So far this season in the premiership 35 matches have seen more than 5 goals scored in a match with nearly half of them (17) seeing six goals or more.The highest scoring match is still the match between Portsmouth and Reading where a total of eleven goals were scored with Pompey winning 7-4. Interestingly the second highest scoring match also involved Reading when they lost 6-4 to Tottenham Hotspurs.
The table below shows all the matches were six goals or more were scored in the match so far.
| Home Team | Away Team | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|
| Portsmouth | Reading | 7 - 4 |
| Tottenham | Reading | 6 - 4 |
| Everton | Sunderland | 7 - 1 |
| Wigan | Blackburn | 5 - 3 |
| Chelsea | Aston Villa | 4 - 4 |
| Tottenham | Aston Villa | 4 - 4 |
| Chelsea | Derby | 6 - 1 |
| Liverpool | Derby | 6 - 0 |
| Chelsea | Manchester City | 6 - 0 |
| Manchester United | Newcastle | 6 - 0 |
| Tottenham | Fulham | 5 - 1 |
| Newcastle | Manchester United | 1 - 5 |
| Portsmouth | Birmingham City | 4 - 2 |
| Manchester City | Bolton | 4 - 2 |
| Blackburn | Reading | 4 - 2 |
| Fulham | Manchester City | 3 - 3 |
| Fulham | Tottenham | 3 - 3 |
Only three teams have so far not been involved in a match where six goals or more have been scored and you can easily out which ones they are.
Hammers ship twelve in three matches
This is a very surprising run for a team that had before these three games only conceded three goals in a league match just once and that was against Newcastle when they lost 3-1 at St James Park.
Its also worthwhile mentioning that the Hammers have also won 5 nil when they beat they beat Derby at Pride Park.
So far in the premiership this season, the 4 nil scoreline has been achieved 9 times. Of these nine times its interesting to see that only thrice did home teams lose by that margin including West Ham's loss to Chelsea which was the first one in this bad run for the Hammers.
The other two teams who lost by that margin at home are Sunderland when they lost to Manchester United and then also Blackburn Rovers lost to Aston Villa by that same scoreline.
Lets hope the Hammers will stop this rot when they next host Blackburn in their next match.
Draws rule round 25
Before last week the highest number of draws in a round had been four and this occurred eight times including the previous two rounds prior to round 25.
Ironically the team that has drawn more than any other team so far Liverpool actually won last weekend in their home match against Sunderland.
Typically they are many draws at the start of the season as teams adjust and new player try to gel but as the season wears on the number of draws decreases as teams try to win and get maximum points.
However, this season was a bit different with four draws in a round only achieved in the seventh round. It would be interesting to see how the draws graph looks like at the end of the season.
Below is the table showing how many times a number of draws occurred per round so far:
| Num of draws | Num of Rounds |
|---|---|
| 0 | 0 |
| 1 | 4 |
| 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 5 |
| 4 | 8 |
| 5 | 1 |
Basically every round of the English Premiership has had a draw so far and four is the most popular number of draws per round. Lest see what the number will be at the end of the season.
Liverpool tops home draws
Its rivals for the title Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea have drawn 1, 2 and 4 respectively at home and losing none whereas Liverpool have lost once.
One other interesting fact is that Liverpool actually tops the table in terms of draws as the following table shows:
| Position | Team | Home | Away | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| 2 | Fulham | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 1 | 6 | 7 |
| 4 | Blackburn | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 5 | Man City | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 6 | Middlesbrough | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 7 | Portsmouth | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Arsenal | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 9 | Bolton | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 10 | Newcastle | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 11 | Tottenham | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 12 | West Ham | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| 13 | Birmingham | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 14 | Chelsea | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 15 | Sunderland | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 16 | Wigan | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 17 | Derby | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 18 | Reading | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 19 | Everton | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 20 | Man Utd | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Turn a few of those draws into wins and the actual league table would be totally different.
